When Jack Cried
by 1monster2
Summary: Jack thought they were out of his life for good. He hadn't seen them for many years-almost a decade-and he had forgotten about that. However, that thinking would now come back to hurt him...and his brothers and sister. 3rd in my multi-chapters...must read "The Newsie Girl" and "A Rich Man's Newsie", and in that order! :)
1. Nap Time For the Newsies

**A/N: Hello, all! I know I said it might be a while for me to publish this chapter, but…I couldn't help myself. ;) I don't know exactly where I'm going with this story so far, but I'm getting there…** **I just couldn't help myself. This tiny menace may not be very good at connecting to the internet, but it is great at Word documents. So, I will be typing whenever I can….um….pretty much…this author's note is pointless…except to point out that this story now exists.**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND I NEVER WILL I JUST CAN'T STOP WRITING NEW STORIES!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT AND REFERENCE ALERT!**

 **Enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 1!**

It was a bright, sunny day. The birds were singing, the children were out in the streets playing, and the borough of Manhattan was coming alive on the morning of July 17th, 1900. Of course, the newsies were out hawking papers-that was a given. It had been four months since the last attack against them-and The League of Gentlemen were still rotting in jail. Jack had-without telling the others-made a very short visit to them to leave one very short message.

"Iffn' ya EVAR try ta go afta my family again, I's gonna do more den stuff ya in jail. Ya all is gonna be history. Don' ya dare cross me."

The newsie leader was currently taking a short break, leaning against a nearby streetlight and chuckling at his younger brother and youngest sister, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo had found a fairly large spider on the ground and was currently chasing Juliet around the street with it. Every newsie knew-Juliet was extremely arachnophobia, and would scream in terror if she ever saw one. Jack grinned warmly, glad to see both her and Crutchie back on their feet and out selling-as well as Specs and Romeo. The four had taken a while to heal up, but were now doing much better, and were pretty much completely back to normal. They were still a bit sore and stiff, but also would have gone insane staying inside any longer. Almost as if his thoughts had conjured it, Jack heard a small sound coming from his left, and wasn't surprised when the younger boy sat down, letting out a small sigh. "How ya doin', Jack?"

"Well enough. It's good ta see ya up an' at it, Crutch. Da boys an' I have missed ya…an' da others too, a course. It ain't da same crazy without da four a ya."

"Hey-we ain't dat crazy! Okay…maybe Juliet. But not da rest a us!" Crutchie gently shoved his best friend, who grinned back at him. The two boys were glad to sit in the sun for a bit, relaxing during a hard day of work.

"How's Specs gettin' on with Doc Menken?" Jack queried. Crutchie smiled back at him, before looking over at the boy in question. "He's bin doin' well. He's bin goin' on 'bout all a da stuff da doc has been teachin' him, an' he's bin showin' Romeo some a da stuff too. He's gonna do well with it, I think." Jack sighed in relief. After both attacks on the newsies, Jack had talked to Dr. Menken about showing one of the newsies some basic first aid. Nothing too advanced, but enough that they would be able to take care of their brothers if they were injured. The doctor had agreed, and begun to show Specs a few things. The bespectacled boy was doing well, and Jack was proud of him-and glad that he was getting the training. Some people just really liked injuring his family, apparently.

"'Ey, Jack. We's got everythin' set up for Romeo's birthday party." Race murmured as he and Davey walked up, trying not to be overheard by the smaller boy. Jack grinned back at them. "Good dat. It's gonna be a fun party tonight!" Crutchie declared. The others chuckled, Davey placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Yeah, we will, Crutchie….but we do have to make sure he doesn't hear about it…" Crutchie chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah-I know, ya dork."

The rest of the day went quickly, and rather well. The newsies had sold all of their papers, and were currently hanging out in the park. Jack and the other "Core Three" newsies made sure to keep an eye on their siblings and make sure that nothing bad was going on, but, of course, nothing happened. Nothing had been happening in the last few months after the rich boys were arrested. They were now sitting on a picnic table, chucking grapes at their siblings and laughing at their annoyed expressions-and dodging the returned projectiles. After about a half an hour, the newsies were slowly fading. Some were falling asleep in the sun, and others were taking naps on top of each other. Crutchie even ended up with Romeo's head against his leg, and the younger boy had Juliet's head in his lap. Jack could feel Crutchie starting to lean on his shoulder, and chuckled warmly-before freezing. He could see five people approaching them…and they were five people that he wanted nowhere near his siblings. He quickly glanced at Race and Davey, who nodded in understanding-Race moving to keep a closer eye on his brothers and sister, while Davey scooted over to take Jack's place and allow Crutchie to doze off against his shoulder. While his brothers did that, Jack made his way over to the five people. As soon as he got close enough, he growled faintly at them.

"You shouldn't be here."

 _ **A/N #2: So… how's this chapter? Hopefully you guys enjoyed it…and I will hope to continue to it soon! I have to get all of my homework done for Thursday before the class, since I will be missing it due to worship rehearsal…and then I have to get everything in general done…I just need to have everything done before the weekend…ai carumba…Just….oh boy. Haha…**_

 _ **Anyways, I just wanted to get this chapter out, and hopefully start working on some more soon! (I should actually go to bed, though…it's 11:56pm on the West Coast, and I have a class at 8:30am tomorrow…ugh….. ;)**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	2. Stay Da Hell Away From My Family

**A/N: Hello, all! Sorry about how vague and awful my last author's notes were….I was on a really intense caffeine high, and then I just kinda bottomed out…and am currently just in that "meh" kind of mood…but even now I can tell that those notes were terribly vague and awful… :l Sorry about that!**

 **I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter! I still have no idea where I'm going yet with this story, so most of this will just be word vomit until I actually figure out where I'm going.** **I'm still coming up with the names of the OCs…but I'm sure by the end of Humanities (somehow I'm paying attention to a lecture about architecture and typing this at the same time…) I'll have figured it out.**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES I JUST LIKE WORD VOMITING STORIES ABOUT THEM WHEN I HAVE NO PLAN!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah-I'm excited to start working on this story…but yeah, I'm also making sure I'm caught up on classes.** **My lovely schedule…ugh… ;) I sure hope I'll get used to it soon! Yeah…I don't think he'll need it for a while, but I know he'll definitely need it eventually…since….this is me we're talking about here. ;) Yeah-I'm severely aracnophobic, so I figured I'd put that little bit in…so I can want to chuck something at Romeo.** **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Yay-fluff is fluffy!** **Haha…yeah, I wanted to make everyone just hate the five automaticall…luckily, they're not as violent as the League, but…we'll see. My computer is all fixed up, and is hopefully shipping out here on Monday…fingers crossed it'll be here by the end of the week! You'll find out who they are this chapter…and I hope you love this one too!**

 **S. Castro: Yeah-that's the reference…and I enjoyed it too! It should be interesting looking up medical stuff, since I'm not really a medical person…so we'll see how well this goes. ;) No, Race and Davey don't know them…they just recognize Jack's "special stare" in these circumstances, and let him take care of it. I think that's how you spell it…I honestly have no idea…I just guessed. ;) Thanks-I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Paperstars24601: Thank you! Yeah, nothing bad is happening yet…but don't worry-it will at some point. ;) Thank you so much-that means a lot to me!**

 **POSSIBLE CLIFFHANGER ALERT! (I'm not sure if it is or not… Read At Your Own Risk!)**

 **Enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 2!**

" _You shouldn't be here."_

Jack glared at the five people in front of him, determined to keep them from approaching his family. The group consisted of 3 men and 2 women, who looked to be about Jack's age. One of the women, a young-ish girl with bright green eyes and red hair, chuckled nasally. "Oh, come on, Jackie-we's family, ain't we?" She smirked at him, but he simply stared her down in response. "We was, Karen. Den wen y'all went behind my back an' started stealing papes an' money from the younger kids…dat's when we stopped bein' a family." He stopped, sighing under his breath as he glared at them. "Wat ya did…it lead ta da death of one a our brothers. Dere's no way I can take ya back aftar dat-an' dere's no way ya's gettin' near my brothers. No way in hell."

"Now, Jack…" one of the boys started, but Jack shook his head, holding up a hand to interrupt him. "No, Stan-I ain't gonna hear anathing from ya. Da last time I did, I found out dat ya led ta a kid bein' killed. So, why don'tcha all turn ya tails 'round an' git outta here. 'Fore I whips ya something good." Stan sighed, looking at the others. They all grimaced back at him, shrugging and shaking their shoulders as if to say "What can we do?"

"All right, Jack…we'll let the matter pass for now. But-you know why we're here. And we're not leaving until we get it. You know how persistant we are…and it would be better for you and the others if you would just hand it over now."

"Ya know I's nevar gonna do dat. So jus' git away from my family, an' stay da hell away. Dat goes for ya, Stan, as well as for ya, Karen, Ashely, Daniel, an' Joseph. Stay da hell away from my family."

And with that, he turned on his heal and walked back towards his brother and sister. As he approached, Davey and Race both looked up at him. "Alright-who is dey, Jack? An' why is dey such bad news?" Race queried. Jack sighed. He had known that Race and Davey would pick up on that, based on the "look" he had given them, which apparently only came out when someone was going to be a problem for the newsies. According to Crutchie, it looked like a cross between a grimace and a scowl. Or something to that extent.

"Deys's…dey's some people who used ta work as newsies, when I was jus' startin' out. We got ta know each other pretty good, an' hung out a lot. Wat I didn't know until I became da previous leader's lieutenant was dat dose guys had been slowly siphoning more an' more papes-which meant more an' more money-away from da smaller kids. They hid it somewhere dat we couldn't find it, an' it was only due ta one of da tiny midgets, who was about six years old, dat we found it at all. Because a deir thieving…one a our little brothers…maybe nine years, at da most…ended up dead, cause he couldn' afford ta buy any food, an' none a us was able ta help him." Race and Davey sucked in a loud breath, and then both audibly cursed. _Now_ they understood why Jack didn't want those five anywhere near their siblings. He didn't want to potentially lead to one of their siblings getting hurt-or worse.

"What did they want?" Davey asked. "They couldn't have just been here to stare at us." Jack nodded, sighing. "After dey got kicked outta da newsies, we…uh…appropriated da money dat dey had been hoardin'. We also kept…a…thing…dat dey really want back. Dey cain't be allowed ta."

"Well, it might help iffn' ya could tell us wat da thing is, so we could make sure ta keep it safe!" Race muttered. Jack nodded. "I would iffn' I could, but…da more people who know what an' where it is, da more vulnerable it is. I promise I'll tell ya later, but for right now it's better iffn' only I knows what an' where it is." His two "Cour Four" members sighed darkly, but finally nodded. Jack grinned back at them. "Now-let's git dese kids up! We has a birthday party ta throw, after all!"

Jack wouldn't let them get what they were after. Or get near his family.

Ever.

 _ **A/N #2: Hey! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out….this computer is awkward…ugh….**_ __ _ **I figured I'd try to finish this chapter before I got started on my mountain of homework…and trust me…it is a mountain. I finished my Pentateuch homework, but I have to read a chapter for Western Civ, before reading an entire book in a few hours and writing a summary on it, and then read and write summary stuff for Pressing Issues, and do a quiz (probably) for Humanities, and then I'm going to be working until 2am tomorrow…and then I have to work until 12-ish tomorrow morning, and then get on a bus and head out to my house, before going to do Service Learning stuff at my church, and then head back to school…augh school is so annoying sometimes! #CanYouTellThatI'mAProcrastinatorYet? ;)**_

 _ **Oh, and I did figure the OCs' names out during Humanities…it was actually due to that class that I did. The five OCs are named for …I think all…of my professors here at Multnomah! Here's their real names:**_

 _ **Stan: Professor Stan Campbell, Humanities**_

 _ **Karen: Dr. Karen Fancher, Pressing Issues**_

 _ **Daniel: Either Dr. Daniel Scalberg, Western Civ, or Daniel Burnett, Choir**_

 _ **Ashely: Ashley Bell, Spiritual and Personal Formation**_

 _ **Joseph: Dr. Joseph Zichterman, Pentateuch**_

 _ **I love all of my teachers, so this is my little tribute to them! (Which is kinda awkward, cause I'm making them evil…**_ __ _ **Oh well…) The reason Jack wouldn't tell Race and Davey what the five were looking for was because I haven't figured out yet what I want that to be. Once I decide, I'll have Jack have a flashback or something while holding it in his had…ya know…like the movies all do… ;) I also have a question for y'all…I know Race is the lieutenant, but what names/titles should Davey and Crutchie have? When I have them in a scene with Race, I have to say "The Core Four", and I'd like to have something specific for Davey and Crutchie…but I don't know what it could be.**_

 _ **Thanks so much for waiting for this chapter…I promise the story will get better from here! (especially since after this I'm hopefully going to make a plan for the story… ;) )**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	3. A Birthday Party of Sorts

**A/N: Hello, all! I apologize for how late this chapter came out…I took almost a whole day to come up with the plan for this story, and I'm still not sure how good it's going to turn out to be. Here's hoping, though! By my estimate, it should be about 13 chapters long, and-of course-there will be a "THANK YOU!" chapter afterwards. Oh, and a special announcement for people who like this sort of thing-this story will feature the return of Smalls, as well as Spot Conlon. They won't come in until Chapter 10, but I figured I'd let you know ahead of time, so certain readers/reviewers can get their fangirlness ready. And yes, S. Castro-this story will contain Judge Bolger, so you can continue your fangirlness for him.** **;) Also, for people who have read my Newsies stories, and have experience with the way I write stories…there are seven CH alerts (trying to disguise it, for people who haven't read my stories yet), including six alerts in a row. I might try to sneak a couple of references in, but I haven't gotten to a part where I could yet.**

 **Of course…(I never get tired of writing this…) DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES I JUST LIKE WRITING STORIES ABOUT THEM AND DON'T WRITE PLANS FOR SAID STORIES UNTIL AFTER 2 CHAPTERS OF WORD VOMIT!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Haha… ;) I can kind of stay away from them…my friend Megan and I found a spider on the floor of a shower in our dorm…it was about the side of a medium-sized rock…we kind of screamed and ran in the opposite direction. Eugh…I would not enjoy that either…yeah, the caffeine high is fantastic. I've been on it multiple times, and it is so much fun. I've written a ton on the high…mostly whumpage… ;) Oh, don't worry, they will be hurt… just not yet.** **I do have to write 10 more chapters…but don't worry…they will be hurt. ;) I'm curious too (since I haven't figured it out yet), but you will find out soon! (as in a couple chapters from now!)** **I didn't make very good friends with it…but I've got my Dello back (my laptop's a Dell computer, and I named it "Dello" when I got it), so I'm back in business-which is awesome.** **Yeah…I've had a lot of homework in the last couple months…and will probably have much more. Especially in my Pressing Issues class…which is where my OC named Karen came from! ;) I like your name for Davey…I think I'm going to try it out in the story to see how it works!** **No problem! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Yay-thanks!** **I am too…even though how I know how it ends….it always explodes beyond what I have on the plan!** **(Examples:** _ **all of my Newsies fics.**_ **) Me too! I just called it "the object" or "the thing" on the outline…but I've kinda got an idea. I still need to work it out, though. Yeah, I totally agree. I just got my computer back last Wednesday, and I've been working on a few stories-including the one you're beta-ing for… ;) I might have a new chapter for you soon, but I have to make a plan for that one as well. (I'm not good at making plans** _ **before**_ **I start on stories…) Yeah-tiny screens are absolutely horrid for posting anything. And, OF COURSE I'VE HEARD ABOUT THE TOURSIES! ;) I'm seeing it in Portland, so I might get to see the three of them! (I need to check the cast that's coming out to the West Coast, just to be sure.) Hartford…do you live in Connecticut? (I just know that Hartford is the capital of Connecticut…) Oh, and my family and I were just watching a commercial for** _ **Supergirl**_ **, and guess who's in it? THE ORIGINAL JACK KELLY HIMSELF! HEREMY JORDAN! :D**

 **S. Castro: Nice! I actually called them that on my plan, so that nickname might be appearing in the story proper! ;) Yeah-I needed some way to make them super evil, and for some reason I instantly thought of someone dying. Maybe writing so much physical whumpage was a bad idea…either that or I'm** _ **really**_ **morbid sometimes. Probably both. ;) Yeah…I think Jack would definitely agree with you. I'm not sure exactly what they've been doing…I think they got better jobs somewhere, but I'm not sure. I'll try to figure that out. As for your second question, if you're asking how long** _ **ago**_ **the incident was…let's see…Jack is 18 in my stories, so…I'm going to say about…seven years ago. I guess Jack was really leadershippy at a young age…and somehow Race and Crutchie (and the other newsies who would have been around then) didn't know about it. You're good-I need questions to make sure I don't screw the story up somehow!** **Those are pretty good ideas…I'll see if they fit! You too!**

 **Paperstars24601: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!** **And keep being intrigued… ;)**

 **Guest: ;) I will! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT AND REFERENCE ALERT! (If you've read my "Core Four" story…)**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 3!**

" _Jack wouldn't let them get what they were after. Or get near his family. Ever."_

"Happy birthday, Romeo!"

The newsies had finally arrived back at the Lodging House, and were currently enjoying a birthday party for Romeo, who had turned fourteen that day. As was the custom, the party was extremely loud, and it could be heard down the street for many blocks. Every single one of his brothers made sure to congratulate him, as did his sister, and Katherine (who had stopped by briefly to say hello). Romeo was currently trying to avoid Race and Sniper, who were chasing him around the room to attempt to tackle him and tickle him. Just like Juliet, Romeo was very ticklish-and didn't his brothers know it. The newsies may not have had much money, but they didn't let that stop them from having fantastic parties. It was a chance for them to let off some steam and just relax as a family.

Well, almost anyone, anyways.

Jack had joined in the party for a while, but had slowly distanced himself from the others as time had gone on. He was currently sitting on the side of the room, looking rather dark and brooding. Some of the younger newsies had tried to go over and talk to him, but the snappy responses that they had received made them immediately back off. Davey had noticed Buttons looking rather subdued, and asked what was going on. Once he found out, he grabbed Race's arm to draw his attention. "Jack's in a mood again."

"Wat're ya talkin' 'bout? Jack's always in a mood!"

"No-he's in a _mood_." Davey murmured, with a deliberate glare in Jack's direction. Race looked over at the older boy, and his eyes widened. "Oh-dat sorta mood." He sighed darkly. "Of all da days for it ta happen, it had ta be taday." He ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath. He didn't want the boys to notice that Jack was having issues and hound him, but he also didn't want Jack to get extremely snappish and hurt the boys in anyway-even if he didn't mean to. He finally sighed again. "Alright-if ya can keep da boys from noticin' how snappy an' explosive Jack is, I'll git Crutchie ova ta him." Davey nodded, and the two older newsies sprang into action. Davey moved off away from Jack and drew the newsies' attention away from their leader and towards the other side of the room. Race headed to the other wall, where the newsies' resident limbic was sitting. "Crutch," he murmured, "Jack's in one a dose moods again. Can ya go talk with him?" Crutchie immediately looked over at Jack, and quickly nodded. "Yeah-I'll talk ta him. Our advisor doin' his thing?"

"Yeah, but it ain't gonna work for too much longer iffn ya don' go talk ta Jack."

"I know, I know-quit your hecklin'!" Crutchie rolled his eyes, but slowly got up and headed over to Jack, nodding to Race as he did so and giving him a slight smile. When he got over to Jack, he simply sat down and stretched out.

"Race send ya ovar here?" Jack didn't even look up at his best friend, simply preferring to look down at the floor. His voice seemed to have lost a bit of his sharp tone, though, for which Crutchie was glad. He gave his friend a slight smile, and moved a little closer to him. "Naw, he didn'. I jus' saw ya lookin' all mad and pissy an' sittin' by youself an' thought dat ya needed a friend. Ya wanna talk ta me 'bout it?" It took a while, but under Crutchie's watchful gaze, Jack slowly looked up a little. "I's jus'…I's jus' terrified a wat's gonna happen cause a dose five bein' back. Dose guys, man…dey's really, really, really bad….an' I don' want dem ta come afta any a ya…but I know dey's gonna."

"Wat happened ta dese guys before, Jack? Ya gotta tell Race, Davey, an' I, so we knows how ta look out for da othars…an' for ya."

"Ya cain't help me, Crutch. Dis is my problem, an' mine alone."

"Naw, it ain't. You may be our leader, but ya is _first_ our brother, an' we gotta look out for ya when ya can't do it for ya." Jack tried to protest, but Crutchie shook his head. "No. Jus' tell us, Jack. Ya know we ain't gonna stop askin' till ya do." They both looked up as Specs and Les busted up laughing at Scabs, who was-unfortunately-squished on the bottom of a large dogpile. Jack let out a small sigh. "I was…'bout ten at da time, I think. Da old leader had made me his lieutenant-I guess because I had some sort a leadership ability or something-an' dey's a couple a years oldar den me-da oldest is four years older, I think. Dere were a lotta rumors goin' round dat someone was takin' people's money an' papes, but since we's such a trustin' family an' all no one really thought a ton of it. Dat was, until…" His voice cut out, and he clenched his fists, trying not to let his tears fall. Crutchie patiently waited, and Jack finally half-whispered, "Until dat nine-year-old kid…until Abram died." He sighed. "He was already a skinny kid ta begin with…not really sickly, but not always really healthy, either. Dey picked on him da most cause he couldn'…or wouldn'…fight back…an' eventually he got so bad dat…he jus' kinda wasted away. Monk an' I looked inta it, an' found stuff dat instigated dem as da cause a his death. 'Fore we could git dem, though, dey left ta go do some othar job. I hasn' seen dem since dat moment…'till now. Now I's got all a ya ta look out for, an' I know dat if dey git a chance ta git near ya, dey's definitely gonna hurt ya ta git wat dey want. I don' wanna give da five a dem da chance ta come aftar ya…especially since a lotta us seem ta have da self-preservation skills of a lemming-like Juliet."

"Um…Jack…wat's a lemming?"

"I dunno…I's jus' heard Davey say it a lot when we ain't takin' care a ourselfs too well." Both boys chuckled a bit lightly at that. Then, Jack turned his head, finally looking up at his friend. "I jus'…I jus' don' want any a ya ta git hurt…an' it seems I ain't bein' very nice at da moment."

"Dat's alright, Jack…ya can just sit here for a while, iffn ya want. I ain't gonna leave ya, an' neither is da othars." Crutchie murmured.

"Thanks, Crutchie."

"Don' mention it."

So, that's what Jack did. For almost the entire rest of the party, he and Crutchie sat on a bench on the side of the room, just watching the others. A lot of newsies wanted to go over and talk to Jack, but they knew from experience that it would just make the moment worse…so, instead, they focused on visibly having as much fun as they could, knowing that Jack would need to see that they were all alright, and that nothing the "Terrible Five" did would end up hurting them.

Just like Jack took care of them…they made sure that their top priority was to take care of him. Because, without Jack, they wouldn't be a family. Or, for some, even be alive.

They would make sure-while Jack was watching their back, they would have his.

Forever.

 _ **A/N 2: Welp…I hope this chapter worked out well! I had a bit more planned for this chapter, but it was one of those ones that's like having teeth pulled, ya know-it hurts to do it, but it has to be done…maybe it's because it was super dialogue heavy, and I haven't written a ton of that lately…anyways, I had a bit with the "Terrible Five" planned, but it's almost 11:50pm out in Portland, and I still have to get a shower at some point, and have rehearsal tomorrow, and do…other things… ;) Oh, and thanks to biankies, who suggested the nickname for Davey! You might not have caught the one for Crutchie (or just seen the word and been like, "What in the name of God is that?"), Crutchie's nickname is "The Limbic". In explanation-I started looking up "emotional center" on Google, since that's what I see Crutchie to be in the Newsie family. I clicked on "emotional center of the brain", and the first thing that came up was a definition of the word "limbic", which is basically the emotional system of the human body. From there, it became a thing kind of like using Aaron and Evan's names for the Clancy brothers-you get an idea, and you don't like it at first, but then as you look for other stuff, nothing else feels right, so you have to go with the first thing, even if you really hate it. I actually like his nickname pretty well now, and I hope you do too!**_

 _ **Well, I should probably go to bed…it's now 12:02am out here, and I do have to be at rehearsal**_ _ **by**_ _ **11:30am tomorrow, so… ;) I'll talk ta y'all later! ;)**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	4. Cain't Ya Jus' Leave Us Alone?

**A/N: Hello, all! I apologize that I haven't updated since…October…** **I have a good reason for that…it's called "college".** **I just had an entire mountain of homework pile up, and I have dress rehearsal for a musical I'm crewing for next week, and just general explosions of crazy…hopefully, it should settle down soon…..plus, I'm procrastinating on a paper that I should really start writing…** **Anyways, we'll see how this goes. I have my plan right beside me, so I know where I'm going with this story, so…** **Hopefully I'll get it all done in one day. Maybe.**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE TO WRITE STORIES WHERE I DANGLE MY READERS OFF OF CLIFFS!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, Jack is always taking care of them…now it's their turn to take care of him. Sweet-I liked it, but I didn't know how well you guys would. Yeah, they probably don't like it much…I was on one the other day (Tuesday, I think), and I figured I shouldn't start the chapter then, since I didn't want to accidently murder a newsie or anything while I was so hyper I couldn't see straight.** **Me too-and I agree, I'm very attached to Dello.** **Eugh…I feel for you. At least you're not dealing with them now! No problem!** **I figured that they'd be very good at it, since they've only got each other to rely on. Me too-I wanted to show how they take care of each other, since even leaders have issues…hopefully I'll get to show off some more of them taking care of each other! (I know at least Race is going to have a "situation"…I haven't decided about Davey or Crutchie yet. After all, Race is in charge of the entire family when Jack isn't there…** _ **hint hint**_ **.) I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Thanks!** **I figured that a newsie party would get pretty loud…especially since they don't have a lot of money to buy anything. I bet they are! I'm so excited to go see it in Portland…even though it won't be until April. Dang it! Do you know if Evan Kasperzack is still in the touring cast? That is super stressful! That's why I make sure to buy my tickets ahead of time…I'm going to see "Once On This Island" at my old high school tomorrow (November 7** **th** **), and I bought my ticket a few days ago…and have a really good seat.** **I had a decent seat for Wicked, but I should have bought my tickets a bit earlier. I'm going to watch it too, even though I don't know when it premiered/premieres. I'm definitely going to watch it, though. I will, and I'm hoping to get the Leah Chronicles going again soon too!** **Well, Hulu shouldn't have any tantrums for the next few chapters…the CHs don't come back until Chapter 7, so there's a bit of a break.** **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **S. Castro: OH NO YOU MISSED A CHAPTER! DON'T LEAVE ME! ;) Haha…I hope you liked this chapter-and the last one as well!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 4!**

 _They would make sure-while Jack was watching their backs, they would have his. Forever."_

"We have to get it back." Daniel said. He and the other Terrible Five were sitting outside at a coffee shop. He sighed, running a hand through his short hair. "If we want to make sure that we can't be arrested and no one can come after us, we have to get it back from Jack."

"You know him-he's not going to give it up without a fight. If we want to get it, we're going to have to break into the Lodging House and take it." Ashely replied. Daniel shook his head.

"You and I both know that the moment Jack saw us, he decided that we weren't getting anywhere near the other newsies, which includes the Lodging House. Yes, I know that we could try to sneak in and get it, but we all also know that we have the stealth skills of a hyperactive bull in a china shop. The only way we'll be able to get it is if the newsies are completely out of the picture…or if we somehow manage to get Jack to give it to us." He sighed darkly.

"Don't worry…" Stan murmured, "we'll figure this out somehow. We'll find a way to get to it, and we'll make sure that no one can tie us to that boy's death, or come after us once we leave the city. Jack won't keep it from us any longer."

Jack was going to pay for what he had done. As would the rest of his wretched newsie family.

The Terrible Five would make sure of it.

And there was absolutely nothing Jack could do to stop them.

The next day, the newsies were out selling. It was a hot day, but thankfully wasn't too humid. Jack had made sure to instruct every single newsie to sell in the shade as much as they could, and to take breaks and get water. Some of the younger newsies refused to think that they needed a break and almost succumbed to heatstroke before Race would bodily shove them into some shade and have Les and Snitch get them some water. They couldn't afford to lose any newsies to sickness, and they didn't want any of their siblings to get sick in general.

It was about two-thirty in the afternoon when the Terrible Five were first spotted. They were walking around the streets when they ran into Race and Davey.

 _Literally_ ran into them.

"'Ey, watch were you's…oh. It's yous." Race growled, finally noticing who had smacked into him. "Ya better git outta here-we ain't gonna take no crap from ya, an' ya knows dat Jack won' either."

"Oh, come on, now…you know that we're going to get what we want eventually. Why don't you just give it to us now, and we won't cause any trouble. We'll just take what we came for and then vanish, and it'll be like we were never even here."

"And we're supposed to believe that? First off, we know better than to trust anything that you all say. Second, we have no idea what it is you're looking for, or where it is. The person who does is keeping it safe from everyone. Especially you. Now, why don't you hightail it out of here, before Race takes all of you down? Cause I wouldn't want to be you in that situation." Davey glared at them as he spoke.

"Of course you know what it is-Jack would have told his lieutenant and…whoever you are…where and what it is we're looking for, so that there would be more than one person guarding it."

"Lady, we's all guardin' it, even iffn' we don' know it or not. Or wat it is. So why don' ya vultures jus' back up a ways, 'fore we come aftar ya-an' we gits Jack comin' aftar ya?" Race stared them down, and the Terrible Five stared right back.

Finally, Karen sighed. "Alright-we's gonna go away for now. But, we's gonna come back, an' ain't none a ya gonna like it!" She stalked away from the two boys, followed more slowly by her four friends. As soon as they were far enough away, the two boys looked at each other.

"We should warn Jack. If they came after us, they'll probably come after the others-and not all of them will be able to push them away like we did." Davey murmured to his brother, who nodded.

"Yeah, it's probably time ta start closin' up anaways. Most peoples ain't stickin' outside much longer…cause it's too dang hot!" Race complained. Davey chuckled, and the two friends started off.

On a corner a ways away, Jack was getting the same idea as his brothers. The sun and heat was starting to die down a bit, and so he gratefully headed over to a windowsill in the side and sat down. He had to set an example for the other newsies, which meant he had to sell harder than all of them-which usually took its toll right about now. He was glad for the chance to simply sit and rest.

It seemed that he was more tired than he thought, for he woke up a while later to someone placing a cool cloth to his face. Well, _woke_ is a weak word…more like he startled awake, jumped off of the windowsill, and ended up sprawled across the sidewalk.

"Oh, I'm sorry-I should have woken you beforehand." A rather feminine-sounding voice came from above him, and he blinked a few times to bring the figure into focus. "Oh, hello, Katherine-ain't no trouble at all. Wat're ya doin' here?" He slowly levered himself back up to sit with his girlfriend, who handed him the wet cloth she had been holding. "I had nothing else to do today, since all of my stories are being printed tomorrow, so I figured I'd come out and see all of you. I haven't gotten out of the warehouse in around three weeks…" She grinned, subtly watching as Jack rubbed his face with the cloth. "I checked with some of the others, and they let me know that you would be here-and probably not taking a break."

"So dey told ya ta come an' force me ta take a break?"

"Actually, it was the other way around-I told them that I would before they even asked." Jack grinned, drawing Katherine into his side and gently kissing her temple as they sat and watched the passerby. "I'm glad ya came. Whatevar da reasons were." They sat comfortably for a while, before Katherine quietly squirmed a little, clearing her throat.

"Jack?"

"Hm?"

"There's another reason that I came to see you…" As she trailed off, Jack looked down at her. "Wat is it?" he queried softly. Katherine looked towards him nervously, but then sighed, recognizing that he was waiting for her to talk. "When I talked to Race and Davey earlier, they told me to tell you that these five people, whom they said that you know _very_ well, were giving them a hard time today about some object, and that these people were probably going to try to come after you." Jack scowled darkly, growling under his breath.

Why couldn't they just leave his family _out of_ it?

"Jack? Who are the people Race and Davey were talking about?" Jack began to respond to her, but suddenly stopped, as he noticed some shadows heading towards them. He slowly stood, gently holding Katherine down with one hand. "Well, would ya look at wat da cat drug in! Why cain'tcha jus' go back ta wherevar ya came from an' leave me an' my family alone? You's caused 'nough trouble in da world-jus' go an' do it somewhere else!"

"Jack-who are they?" Katherine whispered. Stan laughed, looking towards the two. "Well, well, well-you never told us you had a lady friend, Jack! How's about you introduce us to this fine young lady here?" He started walking up towards Katherine with a creepy look in his eyes. Jack moved in front of Katherine, and glared at the other boy. "Dat's as far as ya git. Iffn' ya wanna keep breathin', I suggests ya take a hike. Otharwise…otherwise I might not be responsible for my actions, an' I don' really wanna drag Davey inta another lawsuit when we's gone through two in da last year. So take a hike- _NOW._ "

"Oh, come on, Jack-this is a pointless distraction! Simply give us the object, or tell us where it is and let us obtain it, and then we will be out of your hair for good."

"Ya think I's jus' gonna let ya waltz outta here with da thing dat can put all a ya away for murder? Not a chance. Y'all is gonna git arrested, an' get sent ta jail like all dem othar idiots dat we's had ta deal with." Jack didn't budge, staring them down. The six stood there staring at each other for almost five minutes before Stan sighed and his eyes hardened, almost as if to say, "You asked for it, then." A few seconds later, he and the others slowly stalked away, glaring back at Jack all the while. Jack didn't relax until he visibly saw them round the corner and exit his line of sight.

"Jack?" Katherine queried, tugging on his sleeve. "Who were those people? And what did you mean, murder?" Jack started, almost having forgotten that Katherine was there with him. He sighed, helping her to her feet. "I can explain…but right now, we's need ta git ta da Lodging House. I'll explain everything ta ya dere." Katherine nodded, and the two of them headed off.

 _ **A/N 2: Well…this wasn't finished in one day…more like 6…but oh well. I've been incredibly busy lately with college and Bye Bye Birdie and everything…and my brain feels like it's turned to mush. My sleep schedule is also incredibly screwy at the moment…augh…but hey, at least I somehow managed to get this chapter out, right? (FansieFace, "Leah Chronicles Chpr 3" should be arriving at some point…**_ __ _ **) The next chapter probably won't be out until I have a bit more time to write…but hey…winter break is in almost 1 month…and I won't have to work from December 18**_ _ **th**_ _ **-January 11**_ _ **th**_ _ **…SO EXCITED! AN ACTUAL BREAK! Haha….sorry, this is one of those weird authors notes when I'm hyped up on some caffeine…I need sleep…**_

 _ **Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	5. The Object: Revealed

**A/N: Hello, all! I am sorry this update took so long to come out…I just got utterly slammed with things to do recently…and I had to work a bunch. This is the first time in a while that I had a semblance of free time to do something…** **I finally (as of five minutes ago) figured out what the object is that Jack is guarding, and this is the chapter where you all will find out what it is as well!** **This chapter should have some more of Juliet and Romeo, as well as a sibling moment between Juliet and Snitch!**

 **Welp, I don't have too much else to say, so….DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I'M JUST GEEKING OUT BECAUSE I'M GOING TO OPENING NIGHT OF THE NEWSIES TOUR WHEN IT COMES TO PORTLAND AND JEFF CALHOUN AND CHRISTOPHER GATELLII FAVORITED MY TWEET ABOUT IT!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Haha…yeah, you might want to pay the newsies a visit soon. Maybe… ;) And that's cool-let me know if/when you write that story, so that I can read it!** **Yeah, I haven't hurt anyone yet…but it won't happen for like 3 more chapters.** **After that…all bets are off.** **Yeah, I haven't been on a caffeine high lately….I'm drinking Sprite now, but that has no caffeine and I'm somewhat sick, so…** **Thanks-and I hope you enjoy this update!**

 **FansieFace: OHMYGOSH YOU MISSED A CHAPTER YOU HAVEN'T MISSED A CHAPTER SINCE THE NEWSIE GIRL WHAT HAPPENED DID YOU FALL OUT OF A TREE AND DIE OR SOMETHING PLEASE COME BACK I NEED YOU AND HULU!** **I hope you like this chapter!**

 **S. Castro: YOU MISSED TWO CHAPTERS OH NO! PLEASE COME BACK I MISS YOU!** **I hope you like this chapter!**

 **POSSIBLE CLIFFHANGER ALERT! (On my outline sheet, it says that it's not a cliffhanger…but I don't know if it will turn out as a cliffhanger or not. It might turn out as one, but currently I'm hoping to resolve this chapter.** **)**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 5!**

" _I can explain…but right now, we's need ta git ta da Lodging House. I'll explain everything ta ya dere." Katherine nodded, and the two of them headed off."_

"Will you tell us what it is now?" Jack looked up at his friend, before looking back down. After the newsies had returned to the Lodging House, Jack had grabbed Race, Davey, and Crutchie, quietly telling them that he needed to meet with them privately. He had left Specs in charge-with Romeo assisting him-and the "Inner Circle" met in one of the smaller rooms off of the Living Room. "They've already come after the five of us. They're probably going to come after the others, and I'm not sure our younger siblings can get rid of them as easily as we can."

"An' like we told ya before-your problems is our problems. We ain't gonna let ya carry dis all alone, an' we ain't gonna let ya try an' sneak off alone so ya don' 'bother' us. We's a family-ya can trust us." Crutchie murmured, resting a gentle hand on Jack's knee. Jack sighed, finally looking up at the others. "All right-but none a dis leaves dis room, ya hear? I don' want none a dose guys knowin' anathing." The other four nodded. He took a deep breath, steeling himself, before he quietly spoke. "Ya know dat room upstairs dat we use ta basically store whatevar crap we's got?" When the others nodded, he continued. "Dere's a little chest in dere, way in da back, underneath a few of da floorboards. It's got a journal in dere, dat da five a dem used ta keep. Inside, it has all a dere records dat dey kept on whose papes dey took dat day-cause dey wouldn' take from da same guy in a row-and how much money dey was stealing…an' how much money da rest a us had each day, cause somehow dey found dat out every night. It also mentions dat…dat dey noticed Abram wasn' as strong as da rest a us…an' went aftar him specially." Crutchie's hand gently squeezed his knee, while Race softly cursed and Davey quietly inhaled sharply over his head, and Katherine let out a little gasp of horror from the left of Crutchie. "So it wasn' jus' a chance dat Abram died while's dey were doin' dis stuff…dey went aftar him specifically." Race clarified darkly. Jack nodded, lowering his face towards the ground so that his friends wouldn't see the tears that had begun to lurk in his eyes. Apparently Crutchie had seen something, however, because his hand squeezed again. "Wat's da matter, Jack? Ya know ya ain't ta blame-"

"Dat's jus' it, Crutch-I am ta blame! Iffn' Monk an' I had caught dem earlier, or we had looked out for Abram better, or…I dunno, done sumthing…Abram woulda lived until now! It's our fault dat he's dead!" Jack shook with barely controlled rage, and both Race and Davey laid a gentle-but-firm restraining hand on his shoulders, as he looked like he was thinking about shoving the limbic to the ground in his anger. Katherine knelt down and looked him straight in the eye.

"You are _not_ to blame for this horrendous act, Jack." Jack looked away, refusing to look at or listen to his girlfriend. Katherine's face hardened a bit as she scowled at him. " _Jack Kelly-you listen to me right now or so help me!_ You are in no way, shape, or form responsible for what happened to Abram! Everything that happened to him was the result of those horrible five who thought that they were somehow better than the rest of you! They are the only ones to blame here-if you keep looking back thinking of 'what-ifs', you're never going to be able to stop them from getting away with what _they_ did to him. We're going to stop them, but if you keep regretting what happened in the past, we won't stand a chance." As she talked, Jack had slowly turned back to look at her. She could see in his eyes that he didn't fully believe her yet, but that he was starting to. "All we have to do is keep them away from the journal, and then get it to Judge Bolger so that they get arrested and go away for a very long time. Not that hard, right?" She smiled as she saw Jack nod, the familiar determined spark returning to his eyes. "You're right…sorry I's bin an idiot."

"Jack, you's an idiot all da time."

"Shut up, Race." Jack took a moment to think things through in his head. "All right…now here's my idea…"

The next morning dawned, not as hot and humid as the previous day, but still warmer than normal. Before the newsies began selling, Jack conversed with Race and learned exactly which younger brothers he had had to physically shove into the shade. Those boys then got a firm talking-to from Jack, letting them know that he didn't want that happening again, and that there wasn't really a choice about them taking a break-he was requiring it. A couple of the boys tried to protest, but Jack simply stared them down until they agreed. (Jack had always been told that he had a rather intimidating stare when he needed to.)

A bit later in the day, the newsies were out selling on the streets. Juliet and Romeo were on their old and familiar corners; the ones they had originally started selling on back before the lawsuit against her parents. They had tried to return earlier, but Juliet hadn't been able to approach the Refuge for a while without having a panic attack. It had gotten easier as the time had gone on, and now she was comfortable with working there again. It was far enough away from the Refuge that Juliet wouldn't start to feel the twinges of panic rising up again, and close enough that Crutchie could keep an eye on her-as well as Race or Jack, if they squinted. The two were merrily cavorting around as usual, attracting the stares and smiles of both the passersby and their brothers who watched them, shaking their heads good-naturedly at the "youth of tomorrow".

It was about half an hour later when it happened. Neither Juliet nor Romeo had taken a break for around three hours, and both Crutchie and Race were giving them pointed looks, so they nodded and headed to some nearby shade to appease their older brothers. They sat down for a while, enjoying the shade and each other's company, before hearing a dry chuckle to their left.

"Oh, well isn't this cute…two tiny newsies sitting in a tree. D'ya remember when we were that young?"

"No, but I remember wen Abram was…didn' git much oldar den dat girlie, dough."

Both of the younger newsies turned to see five older teens standing in front of them with…unsettling…looks on their faces. Romeo unconsciously moved slightly in front of his younger sister, while he felt Juliet-more consciously-snuggling into his side. "An' wat do ya want, den? We's havin' a good time, without ya comin' an ruinin' it!"

"Oh, don't worry…we'll let you get back to your… _moment_ …in a moment. We just want to know-where is it?" Both Romeo and Juliet stared at the teenagers, confused as heck.

"Were is wat? We has no idea wat ya is talkin' 'bout!"

"Of course you stupid brats know what we're talking about! The object that Jack Kelly is hiding somewhere that could have to some connection to us-"

"Stan!"

"-and some connection to a stupid newsie brat what died around a decade back. We know it's in the Lodging House or somewhere around it, and that you all know where it is and are guarding it. So-out with it. Where is it?"

Of course, Romeo and Juliet had no idea what the Terrible Five were asking about, so they could only shrug. "We has _no_ idea wat y'all is talkin' 'bout. Why don' ya talk ta Jack 'bout it…an' now we's gonna git back ta sellin', so…" As the two shot to their feet, the Five surrounded them. "Oh no you don't-you're going to tell us where it is, or else…" With that, Daniel shoved Romeo to the ground. Apparently attacking Romeo in any capacity was Juliet's berserk button, as she immediately turned to the older boy and tackled him. The Five, Romeo, and Juliet then engaged in a small scuffle-not anything huge, but enough to give each party some light bruises. Right before he dodged a punch to the face, Romeo thought that he heard a sharp whistle off to his right.

"HEY!"

The loud shout stunned the entire group, and they all turned to see Jack, Race, and Crutchie standing off to the side looking mad. They could see Davey on a corner farther off, and he was looking concernedly at them, but Crutchie was making hand motions to him to stay where he was. "Ya don' git ta come aftar anymore a my family-specially not Romeo an' Juliet. Ya leave them alone, _now_ , an' git outta here." During the lull in the fighting, Race motioned, and both of his younger siblings crossed over to him. "Are both a ya alright?" he asked quietly, while Jack was driving the Terrible Five off. "Jus' some bumps an' bruises, but we's all right." Juliet murmured as Romeo nodded. Race sighed in relief. "Good. We ain't wantten any a ya ta git hurt, but 'specially da two a ya. Well, da two a ya _again_ , anyways…" Juliet churckled lightly, and Romeo gently slugged his older brother in the shoulder. The three looked up just as the Terrible Five sent sharp glares at Jack, before slowly stalking off. Jack let out a large sigh of relief, his eyes subtly flicking over to Race, who nodded back at him, signaling that their younger brother and sister were all right.

Later on in the day, Juliet and Romeo had just finished selling when she felt a tug on her arm. Looking down, she noticed her younger brother, Snitch, standing there. "Hey dere, Snitch-wat's up?"

"Um…can I talk to you for a minute? Like…alone-ish?" Juliet suddenly understood the point that her brother was trying to get across and nodded, turning to Romeo. "'Ey-I's gonna talk ta my brother for a bit. Ya go on an' I'll catch up." Romeo caught the glint in her eye and nodded. "Alright-don' take too long, dough!"

"I won'-now git goin'!" Romeo laughed at her annoyed face, before running off. Juliet then turned back to Snitch. "So…wat's up, James?"

"I…I heard that you and Romeo got into a fight earlier with those guys that have been going after other newsies…I just wanted…I just wanted to make sure that you're okay, because…of the last few times…" Juliet nodded, suddenly understanding. She knew what her brother was feeling at this moment, with all of the times she had been captured and soaked in the last year or so…and she knew how to comfort him. "Don't worry, James. I'm fine-they only gave Romeo and I a few bumps and bruises, and we did the same to them. It wasn't a full out soaking like what happened last time. I'm a tiny bit sore, but I'm all right."

"…"

"…What?"

"…You know that you just dropped your newsie accent and started talking like you used to, right?"

"Yeah, I know…I can still pull it off, but I've grown used to the newsie accent. It kind of feels weird using 'rich-man speak'…but I knew you'd rather hear it from me in this voice, and not the newsie accent…cause that can be a bit hard to understand." Snitch suddenly warmly embraced his sister, who chuckled. "Thanks, Meg." he murmured. Juliet grinned, rubbing his back.

"You're welcome. Don't worry, James-I'm doing all I can to avoid getting hurt, and I know that our older brothers are looking out for me too. I'll be all right, all right?

I'll be all right."

 _ **A/N 2: Welp, this chapter kind of went where I thought it was going to go…but then it just kind of exploded into…something else…**_ __ _ **I'm in the middle of a class (Pressing Issues, kind of an intercultural studies class), so I can't really write a ton on this authors note…but I'm glad this chapter finally got out…and happy with where it went!**_ __ _ **I also hope you enjoyed finding out what the object was…I kind of came up with it in like 5 minutes during Western Civ yesterday…but I thought it would work really well!**_ __ _ **If you don't like it or think that it wouldn't work, just let me know!**_

 _ **Just as a heads up, the next chapter will include Judge Bolger!**_ __ _ **I'm excited to write him again…and excited to work on the next chapter!**_ __

 _ **Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_ __

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	6. A Flashback of Sorts

**A/N: Hello, all! I'm glad to be working on an update on this story!** **I was working on TLC yesterday and realized that I hadn't posted a new chapter in a while…whoops!** **Sorry 'bout that…I've just been slammed with a bunch of stuff to do. Christmas break coming up soon, though!** **Haha…hopefully I can get near to finishing both of my current huge multi-chapters during that time, and then** _ **finally**_ **finish MALA. Cause that's been hanging over my head for almost 3 years. AUGH! ;)**

 **Anyways…DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE WHUMPING THEM WHILE ON CAFFIENE HIGHS!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: No problem!** **And yay you liked it!** **Haha…I do…it's just that we were talking about music, and it was specifically something I've known about for 13 years…haha…I seriously loved your story-it was fantastic!** **Wow, I've never known anyone to be allergic to caffeine…makes sense, though. I think I'm allergic to not beating people up in fanfiction while** _ **on**_ **caffeine… ;) I didn't seriously hurt them that time-only light bruises! ;) Not like in TNG or ARMN or…heh heh…you'll see soon… :P No problem-and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: YAY YOU'RE BACK! ;) Don't worry about it-I do that all the time. That, or I favorite/follow a huge multi-chapter fic and don't review until the end. That happens too.** **Yay journal! I honestly couldn't think of anything for like 3 weeks…and then I started thinking of Forensic Files (a show I like)…and then it kinda just came…but I'm glad it works!** **Me too! I realized that I hadn't written much current interaction between the siblings…but I'm glad it sounded good! I really enjoyed writing it…and not having to think in "newsie-speak" for a minute.** **Yeah, they'll have fun with it…and I think Judge Bolger is kind of surprised at how much trouble one group of kids can get into…** **Yeah, it's getting more manageable now, with the semester almost over…and I will try my darndest not to leave you hanging for long periods of time!** **(I mean, it's me, so I will leave you hanging, but hopefully not for too long!) Hi, Hulu!** **I won't be dangling you too bad yet…but don't give FansieFace a heart attack after Chapter 7! I still need her to write amazing reviews! ;) God bless you too!**

 **GraceLeah07: Thank you so much! I love reading that sort of story too, so I guess it comes out in my writing!** **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **BookLuv: Thanks! I hope you enjoy what happens next!**

 **SOMEBODY SHOULD CHECK ON S. CASTRO AND MAKE SURE THEY'RE OKAY AND NOT DEAD BECAUSE THEY'VE MISSED TWO OR THREE CHAPTERS IN A ROW AND I GET NERVOUS WHEN ONE OF MY MOST CONSTANT REVIEWERS DOESN'T REVIEW…. ;) (Pwetty Pwease? Haha…I'll check in on them too. Maybe they're just taking a hiatus?)**

 **POSSIBLE CLIFFHANGER ALERT! (I don't know for sure what the end of the chapter looks like yet, so I don't know for sure if it's going to resolve or not…it's supposed to resolve.**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 6!**

" _I'll be all right, all right? I'll be all right."_

That evening, Jack was nowhere to be found. Usually, evening was the time they got to see him the most, and when they would be able to talk to and be around him the most. However, no one had seen him since they had arrived home, and no one seemed to know where he was.

Okay, Race, Davey, and Crutchie did. But after around twenty minutes of trying to weasel the answers out of their older brothers, it was clear that the boys wouldn't tell them. The newsies were frustrated, of course, but they figured that he was doing something important, so they reluctantly left it alone for a while.

Jack wasn't actually as far away as they thought. There were three floors to the Lodging House-the first containing the Living Room, Soaking Room, boys dormitory and bathroom, plus a few small extra rooms, the second containing the girls dorm and bathroom and some more extra rooms, and the third holding the ladder up to the roof and some _more_ empty rooms. The fourth floor, of course, was the roof, where generally only Jack and Crutchie were allowed to go. The newsie leader was up on the third floor, in the smallest room furthest away from the stairs. He was sitting on top of a small chest, holding a small brown journal in his hands. As Jack read over the many entries, his mind returned to that time a decade ago…

"' _It's too late, Jack…he's gone.'_

 _Jack had just skidded to a stop outside of the Soaking Room. He had rushed through his selling as quickly as he could so that he could go back and look after Abram. The young boy had been growing dreadfully sick lately, and Jack didn't like the fact-or think it was healthy-that he could almost count (and see the outlines of) all of Abram's ribs. Someone had been going through his money or taking his papers or something, and Monk and Jack had been trying to figure out who and what for at least three months._

' _Wat do ya mean, Monk?'_

' _Wat I mean, kid…ya know what I mean.' Monk muttered quietly, averting his eyes. Jack sucked in a low breath, taking his hat off and running a hand through his hair._

 _Yeah. Yeah, he did._

' _Wat'll we tell da guys?'_

' _Tell 'em wat happened. Dat way dey all know notta mess with a fellow brother or sister, an' maybe the bastard wat did dis will feel guilty and come clean.' The older newsie sighed, draping a large hand over Jack's shoulder. 'Iffn' ya wantta go in an' see him, ya can…we ain't doin' anytin' else taday.' Jack nodded, and slowly entered the room as Monk slowly walked off. When he approached the bed, he let out a strangled gasp and placed his fist over his mouth to muffle the sound. It looked like Abram could have been sleeping…but Jack knew the truth. He was just glad…glad that the younger boy finally had some peace after suffering for so long. He also knew that he was going to miss Abram…and that he was going to find those sons of bastards who were responsible for this._

 _While he was in the room with Abram, Jack heard five loud voices echoing down the hallway. He looked up to see Daniel, Stan, Ashley, Karen, and Joseph entering the Lodging House. They briefly looked in the Soaking Room, and Jack was angered to see that they let out a small chuckle before heading further in. They weren't inside long, only about ten minutes or so, before heading back out to do whatever. Jack didn't like those five. They always thought that they were superior to everyone, even to Monk, who was the_ _leader of the newsies_ _, and did whatever they wanted, without ever thinking of the consequences to them or to the newsie reputation. He wouldn't put it past them to mistreat one of their own siblings for a laugh._

 _Wait a minute…_

 _Quietly, in case they came back, Jack crept up the steps to the girls dormitory. Ashley and Karen shared it with a few other girls, but none of them were around. He thoroughly searched through both of the girls' things, but didn't find anything. He then went downstairs and repeated it with the boys'._

 _At Stan's, he found it._

 _At first, he thought the journal was just a notebook that the older boy could have picked up anywhere. There were a couple other girls that had them, but upon looking inside, Jack whistled lowly. "I don' think dose girls have a journal like dis.' he muttered quietly. Then, he dashed off to find Monk. The older boy was in one of the private little rooms, trying to regain his composure before the others returned. Out of respect, Jack quietly knocked on the door. Monk looked up, hastily wiping tears from his face-which Jack completely ignored._

' _Yeah, Jack? Wat's up?'_

' _I think I may have found da bastards dat did dis ta him.' Monk's eyes immediately lit up as he slowly stood. 'Ya do? Who? An' why?'_

' _I think it was_ _dem_ _-ya know, Stan, Daniel, Karen, Ashley, an' Joseph…an' dis is why.' He handed the journal over to Monk, who's face grew redder and redder as he read more and more. He also steadily began to curse worse and more frequently as he read. Finally, he snapped the journal closed with a dark scowl. 'Do ya know were dese bastards are?'_

' _I saw dem come in an' go out 'fore I found dis.'_

 _Monk nodded. 'All right-we's gonna have a meetin' tonight…an' we's gonna git dose bastards for wat dey's done.'"_

"Is dat it?"

Jack sucked in breath, relaxing when he only looked up to see Crutchie standing there looking worried. He scooted over a little to allow the limbic to sit down. "Yeah, dis is it, Crutch. Dis is da thing I found all dose years ago…dat coulda-and shoulda-put dem away for good."

"Wat happened? Dey ain't lookin' like dey's in jail…" Crutchie trailed off, waiting for his friend to respond. He knew that Jack needed to put all of his thoughts and words in order before speaking, and he was content to give him the time to do so. Finally, his best friend cleared his throat. "Well, we called a meetin' ta talk 'bout it. First off, dey wouldn' stop hecklin' Monk an' I da entire time. Den, wen we brought up Abram, dey wouldn' stop goin' on 'bout how he was gonna die young anyways…" He sighed, disgusted with the Terrible Five, before continuing, "but den Monk pulled out da journal and called dem on it. Dey tried ta deny it but we all knew it was dem. We was gonna take dem ta da police, but da Burnett boys-da Delancy boys 'fore it was da Delancy boys-came an' said dat Pulitzer needed dem for sum 'special job'. Dey left, and we didn' know till later dat dey simply skipped town. We told da police wat happened, but dey couldn' go across state lines ta deal with it, an' now a days dey's forgotten 'bout a decades-old murder case." He sighed, relaxing a little as Crutchie wrapped his arm around him. The boys sat there for a while before the limbic could feel the other starting to doze off against his shoulder. Crutchie gently jostled Jack. "Oi! I ain't no pillow, so let's git goin' before ya fall asleep on me right here an' I haveta git Race ta carry ya up ta da roof."

"Crutch…I use you for a pillow all da time. An' I end up _bein'_ a pillow almost every darn night."

"I know, I know-now shut up an' git up dere 'fore I have ta drag ya up dere." Jack chuckled, slowly rising to his feet before helping Crutchie up as well. "Are ya alright, Crutchie? Ya's wincin' again…"

"Yeah, I's alright…jus' kinda nervous. My leg's startin' ta act up again, an' it only does dat when dere's trouble ahead." Jack sighed lowly, swiftly climbing up the ladder so that he could turn and help Crutchie up. "Don' worry 'bout it, Crutchie-watevar it is, we's gonna face it tagether, all right? Me, ya, an' all our brothers an' sisters. Alright?" The younger boy finally nodded, still obviously a bit perturbed about it. Jack squeezed his shoulder encouragingly, before nodding to their mats. "Why don' ya lie down for a bit…an' yeah, ya can use me for a pillow again." Crutchie laughed brightly, before he and Jack headed over to go to sleep for the night.

A night of rest was what they _both_ needed.

"Why won't they just tell us where it is?"

"Well, we are just demanding it from them."

"So? Why's dat so important?"

"It's important, Karen, because you can never get anything by demanding. Not anything good, anyways."

"So what are we going to do-break in an' try to steal it? You know that we have no idea where it is, an' that the newsies won't betray Jack if they can help it. Plus, we have the stealth skills of an elephant."

"Yes, I know that…but I have a different idea. Who is the one person who is the reason that all of this is happening? Who should have kept his nose in his own business and just forgotten about 'poor old Abram'? And who is it that's the main cause of our problems now?"

"…Why, that would be Jack Kelly!"

"Exactly-cut out the heart, and everything else dies with it. I think it's time we had a chat with our dear old friend…away from prying eyes."

"Are you sure dis is a good idea?"

"What-you don't think he should know?"

"No, I think it's a good idea…just why did we haveta do it right now?" Katherine grinned at the younger girl. "Because we know that he'll still actually be at the courthouse, and because if I went by myself during the day it would just be…weird." Juliet huffed quietly, smirking at her friend. "Ya mean iffn' ya went by yaself durin' da day dere wouldn' be anyone ta take care of all of dose 'ruffians and thugs' for ya since we'd all be sellin'."

"Exactly." Katherine chuckled. "I'd also rather go now because it means I get to talk with you for a while, when all of our brothers aren't being the complete and total lovable idiots they are."

"They are that." Juliet smiled. The two girls were-quickly-walking towards the courthouse, where they knew Judge Bolger would still be. Katherine wasn't privy to everything that was going on with the journal (and Juliet had absolutely no idea), but she figured that it would be good to warn Judge Bolger in advance that something might be going down. Race and Davey had reluctantly let them go, with the promise that Juliet would watch out for Katherine until she got back home, and then the younger girl would head straight home as quickly as she could. They all remembered well the numerous attacks on newsies-and other Manhattan residents- that happened at night on the streets, and so Race wanted Juliet back as soon as she could be. Yes, he was a bit overprotective, but then again they all were, so…

Finally, they reached the courthouse and stepped inside, thankfully closing the door against the few catcallers who were lounging around outside on lampposts and benches. They made their way quickly to Judge Bolger's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

The two girls opened the door to see Judge Bolger sitting at his desk, putting away a couple of files. When he looked up at them, he smiled. "Hello, girls! What can I do for you?"

Katherine sighed. "We just wanted to alert you in advance that something might be going down with the newsies…again." Judge Bolger chuckled a little as the girls sat down across from him. "Someone must really not like you guys, you know? What is it?" Juliet looked up at Katherine, wondering the same thing.

"If you please, sir…Jack would appreciate it if none of this left this room…he doesn't want many people to know about it." Both Juliet and Judge Bolger nodded slightly, adopting more serious faces. Katherine took a deep breath. "Jack has a journal that could put five former newsies away in jail for conspiring-and succeeding-to murder a younger newsie by stealing his papers and money and essentially starving him to death around a decade ago. Those five managed to escape before anything could happen…but now they've come back, and are trying to steal the journal before anyone can use it to prove their guilt. They've been going after more and more newsies as of late, and so I figured that Juliet and I should let you know what was going on, instead of you hearing about it way later on." Juliet gaped at her older sister in horror. She had figured things were bad earlier, but not _that_ bad. The Judge also looked horrified and disgusted. "Thank you for coming to tell me. I'll keep an eye on it, and come talk to me if anything happens, all right?" The two girls nodded, and after talking for a little while longer, Juliet headed back to the Lodging House (after making sure that Katherine got to her house all right). As soon as she entered the door, she was caught up and spun around in a huge hug from Race. "Race…ack…put me down!" Her older brother chuckled, gently setting her back down on the ground. Then, before she could head upstairs, Race subtly moved in front of her. "Did ya hear wat Katherine said 'bout not wantin' many people ta know 'bout da journal?" he muttered softly. At his younger sister's nod, he continued. "Dat also goes for dese boys. Jack doesn' want many a dem ta know, so dat hopefully da Stupid Five will leave dem alone. Which means-ya cain't tell no one, alright?" Juliet nodded ferverantly, to which her brother let out a small sigh of relief. "Good…cause if this all goes pear-shaped…I don't know what's going to happen to Jack. Or what he'll _do_. If this all goes wrong…we'll all be in trouble."

 _ **A/N 2: Welp…sorry if this chapter is a bit blander than my other ones…I kind of rushed it out in two days, since I have finals today and tomorrow…It's currently 10:32am PST and I haven't even gotten out of bed yet…perks of taking an online final, I guess? ;) I hope y'all liked the flashback to the previous newsie family…it was kinda creepy to have a mental image of my teachers laughing at a dead child, but…I enjoyed writing that bit! I also apologize for the weird middle section with the Terrible Five…I was at a point last night where my brain just didn't want to think at all, and so I decided to do a bit with all dialogue, so that I didn't have to come up with movements and motivations and emotions and everything else for them…Next chapter should be a lot better!**_

 _ **Well, I should probably sign off for now…I've got a Humanities (Fine Arts-Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Architecture, Music) final in about 2 ½ hours…and I'm still in bed. In my pyjamas.**_ __ _ **#Win …but I should probably actually get out of bed and start doing stuff.**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_

 _ **(PS-I just noticed that this chapter is 7 pages long! What the crap?)**_


	7. The Attack on Jack

**A/N: Hello, all! I am glad to be working on this story again…I kind of got caught up in TLC for a while (because the story's going super well), but I'm glad to be back! I'm on Christmas break (which is a huge blessing for me), and I'm hoping to get multiple chapters done before I go back to school!** **I don't have much else to say in this author's note, so…yeah!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LIKE WRITING STORIES ABOUT THEM WHILE LISTENING TO PHOENIX (by Fall Out Boy)!**

 **Response to Reviews:**

 **Biankies: You're welcome-it was fantastic! That is sad that you got it, but at least you know about it! :l Haha-I will…but you probably won't like what's going to happen with Jack in the next few chapters…** **The other newsies'll get light bruises…Jack not so much…** **Haha-I would agree with you…I definitely am addicted to hurting the newsies…** **Hopefully in my next story I won't whump anyone! (or, that much, anyways.) I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: AH YOU MISSED A CHAPTER AGAIN OH NO! I hope you love this one!**

 **S. Castro: AGH! PLEASE COME BACK TO THIS STORY I MISS YOU AND YOUR FANGIRLING SOOOOOO MUCH!**

 **GraceLeah07: Yay-thank you so much for that! I try to make sure that everyone will love what I write…even if I'm really nerous that they won't...** **But it seems like y'all like it, so yay! That's good…haha!** **Usually I go back and read it and find one or two mistakes, but that's good that you can't find any!** **Haha-I'm glad that it's suspenseful, since I'm good at writing cliffhangers…and you're welcome! I usually figure that it's best to know everything pretty early in the story than at the end…unless it's supposed to be at the end for dramatic effect.** **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **CLLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 7!**

" _If this goes wrong…we'll all be in trouble."_

The next day was when everything went to hell.

And for once, it wasn't Juliet's fault.

For once.

The newsies were out selling like normal, and the weather was-surprisingly-not terribly bad. It was surprisingly mild for a day in July in New York. There was a decent number of people walking the streets, and most of them gladly bought a paper. There was a lot happening in the world at large that month, and no one wanted to miss any of the news. That was just fine with Jack and the others-the more papers they sold, the better. In addition, the Terrible Five were nowhere to be seen. Jack was relieved to not have to deal with them, as were Race, Davey, and Crutchie. They, along with Katherine and Juliet, had decided that if the former newsies ever showed their faces again, they would make sure the despicable idiots didn't get anywhere near Jack. They had already tormented him enough, and his younger siblings didn't want him to suffer any worse. A day without any incidents would do them all good.

Jack was relieved to not see his former siblings, as he knew his current younger siblings were…but at the same time, it made him nervous. He knew that those five were scheming and conniving bastards, and that they were probably concocting some plot to try to find the journal. He hoped that they didn't know its location already, but they genuinely seemed to have no idea. And anyways, if they had tried to break into the Lodging House at night, everyone would have heard them. For all of their strategic prowess, they weren't able to sneak around anywhere without knocking over a chair, three lamps, and a small china cabinet, and then tripping over the chair they had already knocked to the ground. Stealthy, they were _not_.

He (Jack) had been selling for about four hours when he saw the first signs of trouble. Or, more accurately, heard. He started hearing strange noises following him wherever he went-a crunching of leaves here, a rustling of paper there. They got louder and louder for a while, but then mysteriously vanished. For the next thirty minutes, he heard nothing whatsoever, and he started to allow himself to believe that nothing was going to happen, and that whoever was stalking him had gotten bored and left to go do something else. This was, unfortunately, not to be-as he was turning a corner into a less populated area, someone's strong grip grabbed both of his shoulders and dragged him into a smaller alleyway.

"Git offa me!" he cried, but to no avail. He scowled at Daniel and Joseph as they pulled him further into the alley. When he saw Stan, Karan, and Ashely, he let out a growl, before lifting his legs (using Daniel and Joseph to balance) and kicking the older boy in the stomach. Stan staggered backwards in pain, glaring at Jack, who was attempting to throw off Daniel and Joseph-with some level of success. Jack _was_ one of the best fighters of the newsies, after all (he shared that title with Race), and he would be darned if he would give up without a fight. He was holding his own for a while, but somehow missed seeing Ashely sneaking up behind him with a frying pan. She smacked him directly on the back of his head, and he went down on one knee. Jack wasn't unconscious, but his head was now spinning, and throbbing rather painfully. " _Great…jus' great. Wait…were'd Ashely git a fryin' pan?_ " Jack thought to himself, as the two boys again grabbed his arms.

"Let's get going-we need to be out of here before the others realize that he's missing." Stan murmured, and the others complied, dragging Jack along with them.

While all of this was going on, Katherine had stopped by Judge Bolger's office. Her father had learned about the journal (after Jack had given permission to tell him about everything), and had sent her to find out what the Judge would need to put the five behind bars for good. As she sat in his office, he sighed frustratedly. "If you can get definite proof that the five were behind this-which the journal would be, from all accounts-then they could get charged with first degree murder, and end up behind bars. The only problem, though, is that we need proof that they actually left the state after the event, and didn't just hide in state until it all blew over. If they did flee over state lines, they can be counted as fugitives and charged for that as well. The other thing is that until you can get that journal here, the five will be on the lookout for it. Every newsie will be in danger until that journal is in the evidence locker, and the five are in jail." Katherine nodded, sighing. She and the other "Core Four" members had figured as much. They were trying to keep the knowledge of the journal and the identity of the Terrible Five a secret as much as they could, but it was getting harder, as more and more newsies were getting curious. They also were worried that the Terrible Five would try to break in at some point and try to steal the journal by force. The Terrible Five were keeping an annoyingly close eye on them, and it would be rather difficult to get the journal to the police station without being spotted.

Difficult.

Not impossible.

Katherine looked back up at the judge, both fear and determination showing in her eyes. "We'll get you proof, Your Honor. I promise. As for the journal…we'll figure out how to get it to the station. We have to do it somehow without alerting the five-or any newsie who doesn't know about it-to its presence. We will do it, though. Somehow." The judge nodded, and then shot up, looking at his clock. "I'm sorry, Katherine, but I have to go…I have the first hearing of a case coming up. And I'll bet you half of the borough's going to show up…stupid lawyers and their inflated egos. It seems they think they know more about the justice system than I do." Katherine let out a small chuckle, and nodded. "I know exactly what you mean, sir. I'll leave you to it, then." Judge Bolger grinned, before escorting her to the door at the front of the courthouse. After he left, Katherine let out a little sigh. She knew that they had the journal already, and that that would be proof enough, but she had no idea of how they would find proof that the five had skipped town for New Jersey afterwards. As she headed down the stairs and back onto the streets, she groaned. Most of Manhattan's catcallers and perverts (besides the ones the newsies had already dealt with) usually only came out during the night. However, there were a few who were out during the day…and she was their favorite target.

"Why hello there, little lady…why don'tcha come an' sit with me for a while?" one called from off to her left. Katherine squared her shoulders and walked off, hearing footsteps behind her as the men followed. "Oh come on, now-don't be like that! We only wants ta get ta know ya!" another called. Katherine began to walk faster, hearing their whistles and catcalls coming closer.

They were gaining on her…and she was running out of road.

And she was in heels.

Crap.

Suddenly, she turned a corner and smacked into someone. She ended up on the ground, while the other let out a sharp breath. "'Ey, watch were ya goin', ya… _Katherine?_ Wat're ya doin' here?" Race stuck out his hand, and Katherine gratefully accepted, allowing him to help her to her feet (which didn't take that much effort on Race's part). She was about to reply, but the catcalls and whistles behind here grew louder and louder, and she could tell by his expression that Race could hear them all. "That." she murmured awkwardly. Race scowled in their direction, before turning back to the younger girl. "Don' worry 'bout dose idots…jus' hang out with me for a while. I'll make sure dey don' bother ya." Katherine smiled gratefully. Originally, she had been slightly scared of being around Race. He was a bit harsher and more reckless than Jack, and kind of scared her a little. However, after the events of the strike, they had grown a lot closer, and were very comfortable with each other. Some of the newsies had heard rumors that Katherine and Race might have gotten together behind Jack's back, but Race would never do that. For one thing, he respected both of his siblings too much for that, and for another, he agreed-along with the rest of the newsies-that Jack and Katherine made the perfect couple. He figured that he would find a lady friend eventually, but he would never betray Jack like that.

"Thanks, Race…they wouldn't leave me alone."

"Don' worry 'bout it…it's good ta git ta talk ta ya again. Ya go ta talk to da judge?"

"Yes…but he said that we have to have proof that the Terrible Five skipped town to New Jersey so that we can prove that they didn't just hide out somewhere in New York until the case was over…or that Jack didn't hide them anywhere."

"An' why would Jack hide dem anywhere?" He's tryin' ta git dem in jail!"

"I know…but there's always a chance that some newsie could have hid them in New York somewhere until the police stopped looking for them. It's just a precaution, but it's utterly useless, in my opinion." She sighed frustratedly, before groaning. "Oh great…here they come."

Race looked up to see four men-who were clearly drunk-staggering towards them. His eyes narrowed, and he gently pushed Katherine down with one hand. "Leave dem ta me." he muttered. Katherine made like she was going to protest, but Race just stared at her for a couple seconds, before she nodded. He squeezed her shoulder, before heading over towards the men. When he arrived, the other men growled at him. "Get outta our way, ya stupid newsie. We don't have any business with ya-our business is with that lady over dere."

"Ya don' have any business with her. Not unless ya wanta go through all a her older an' younger siblings…an' ya don' really wanna mess with all a us." The main man stepped forwards, obviously trying to get past Race and swagger over to Katherine, but the lieutenant simply grabbed his arm and swung him around, before shoving him towards the others. He could have done a lot more, but the boys always tried to restrain from as much violence as they could when they were around Katherine. It didn't matter as much with Juliet, because she had already proved herself in fights, and because it went with the territory-if you were a newsie, you were going to get into fights. It was that simple. Plus, with the injuries that she had received in the past, she was somewhat used to all of the side effects of soakings. Katherine was a bit more innocent than the others, even though she had been a big part of the strike, and so they tried to keep her from seeing as much as she could. The men kept trying to get by Race, but he seemed to be everywhere at once, preventing them from ever getting to his younger sister. Finally, he got so fed up with the men that he wound up and punched the leader of the four men directly in his right eye. The man stepped back in pain as Race glared at them all. "I'll tell ya one more time. Git away from us- _now_." The men slowly backed up, and as Race walked towards them, they turned tail and ran. Race sighed thankfully, and came back towards Katherine. "See? I told ya." Katherine grinned at him, and gently shoved his shoulder. She didn't need to say anything to communicate her thanks.

Race would always have her back, and Katherine knew it.

By the end of the day, the newsies were glad to be done selling. It had been a good day of selling, but they were all extremely tired. Most of them were on their way back to the Lodging House, but a few were stopping by Jacobi's to pick up food for everyone. Crutchie headed for Davey's corner. During the day, Juliet had come with a message from Race that the four of the "Core Four" members should meet at Davey's corner after they were done selling. Katherine had told Race everything about her meeting with the judge, and Race figured that the others should know what happened. He had asked Juliet to tell all three of the others, but she apparently hadn't been able to find Jack. Crutchie had been looking for his best friend all day, but the limbic hadn't seen him at all, and he was starting to get worried. Yes, Jack could be hard to find sometimes, but not for that long. He finally arrived at the advisor's corner to see Davey and Race there, but no Jack. He slowly lowered himself down onto a building's windowsill, helped a bit by his older brothers. "So…has anyone seen Jack taday? I saw him at da beginnin' of da day, but nothin' since den."

"I was 'bout ta ask y'all da same question." Race muttered. "Juliet didn't see him at any of da corners she passed, an' none a da othars have seen him neither."

"None a us can find Jack?"

"I don't think so. And if the others haven't seen him either…we're in trouble." When his brothers looked at him confusedly, Davey sighed. "It's just like what happened with Juliet before. Somebody comes after us and singles out one of us as their main target. When we don't give into them-"

"Dey grab da specific newsie." Crutchie murmured with a sinking heart. He looked nervously at his siblings. "Ya don' think dey grabbed Jack, do ya?"

"I think that's exactly what happened, Crutch." Davey muttered. He sighed. "And if what's happened before is any indication…they're going to try to get the journal's location out of Jack." Race let out a long breath. With Jack missing, it fell on him to lead the newsies. His brothers looked at him as he contemplated for a moment.

"Wen we get back, da three a us is gonna come up with a plan ta git Jack out. An'…we's gonna need ta tell Specs an' Romeo dat we's gonna need deir help soon enough."

They were going to get Jack back.

Whatever it took.

 _ **A/N 2: Welp…I'm glad this chapter is done. For some reason, I had a really hard time getting it out. I'm glad I did, though…I'm looking forward to working on the next few chapters. It's also been fun lately, since some Guest has been reviewing ARMN…and they're leaving some really interesting reviews…one (around Chapter 2) was predicting my death would be imminent because of my horrible cliffhangers, questioning what "iffin'" means (which can mean "if" or "if not", depending on context), talking about the degree of bastards the League of Gentleman are, and also one in some Asian language that has been translated three times into complete gibberish. Haha…**_ __ _ **The next chapter should be out soonish…hopefully you guys like it!**_ __ _ **Also, since it's still 7:09pm on December 31**_ _ **st**_ _ **out here…HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope all of you have a fantastic year!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	8. Race's Dilemma

**A/N: Hello, all! I am so sorry about how late this update is…wow, almost a month…I seriously apologize for that. I mean to post sooner, but then I got back to school for second semester…and holy crap. I have so much stuff to do now, it's insane. It's mostly reading, but…I am most definitely 10x busier than I was last semester. And then, on top of all of that, I decided to crew for Cinderella, with the same group that I did Bye Bye Birdie with. That means that I have rehearsals every so often on Saturday…and will be performing in March. Augh…so much stuff to do I'm going insane. ;) However, I wanted to make sure that you guys got an update, since it's been so long on this story-and since I've been getting more traction on TLC…I didn't want to neglect this story, since Newsies is where I got my start as a semi-well known author. ;) Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy this update!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST CAN'T WAIT TO GO SEE IT IN APRIL WHEN IT TOURS HERE!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Haha, yeah, that's also on me…I'm trying to stay away from caffeine when I write, but it's getting harder when I have coffee in almost every class…and soda at lunch. Oh boy… However, I do make sure I'm not on a caffeine high when I'm writing. ;) That would end REALLY badly. Yeah, I kind of have the same thing…I've had these "remembering attacks" for the last few years, and never knew what was going on. This summer, we went to the neurologist, and found that those were actually seizures, and that I have Temporal Lobe Epilepsy…so yeah, at least in my experience, it's definitely better to know. But yeah, decaf coffee is terrible. I'm sorry…yeah, I wanted to avoid hurting those two…** **I figured I couldn't hurt Race, since I need him to lead the newsies, and Crutchie because he got beat up last time. Haha, I don't know if it's possible either, but I accept your challenge! (can the newsie in question get sick? Cause I got a request for a one-shot about that, but I can extend it to two chapters easily enough…) Haha-torturing seems to be our specialty! Lol, you'll see…and yeah-I can never hurt Katherine. I'm not that sadistic…and I loved writing that bit with her and Race. I've seen some fics that ship them on …and I just want to smack those people. She's with Jack, you nitwits! ;) Haha, yeah, you should go get your gloves. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Haha-that's all right! You get some grace, I guess, since you're beta-ing TLC (which I really appreciate, by the way)… ;) Haha…Hulu might end up acting up a little more after this chapter, I'm not sure…just so long as it doesn't have another Biblical-based freakout, though…** **And yeah, the cliffhangers will probably be that bad…** **Yeah, it was so weird writing it, because it wasn't Juliet getting kidnapped this time…which is not what I normally write… ;) And HOW CAN YOU KILL JACK? HOW DARE YOU, MA'AM?** **I'm not able to kill the main characters of anything…secondary characters, fine, but not main characters…(thanks, JK Rowling and Susanne Collins and Rick Riordan and JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis and….you get the picture. ;) ) Haha-don't worry, it'll all work out eventually…but there's still a ways to go before that happens.** **I hope you enjoy this chapter! (…and who's "ahoy"? ;-) )**

 **S. Castro: Hey, I miss you! Please come back and review…I don't know if you're reading these chapters or not, but if you are, I hope you're enjoying them!**

 **Musicalphan: Hey! I hope you enjoy this update!**

 **Guest #1: Hey…I can't exactly understand your reviews…when I put them into Google Translate (which admittedly isn't the best translator in the world), they come out as gibberish…I would respond to them better, but I have no idea what you're saying. Sorry…**

 **Guest #2: Haha, yeah-I know exactly how that feels. I'm apparently good at writing physical/emotional whumpage, perverted characters, and cliffhangers…and usually everyone hates my cliffhangers. And last time was completely horrific…and unfortunately, there's another one this chapter… ;) Haha, I just can't help myself. I'm glad you're enjoying them, though-that's why I write them!**

 **Guest #3: Thank you so much! Haha, I know exactly what you mean-I'll get a kick for one fandom (right now it's kind of Teen Wolf) and read a ton of stories from that fandom…** **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Guest #4: Hey! Sorry this update hasn't come in a while…I hope you enjoy it, though!**

 **Also, on kind of a funny note…someone was reviewing TNG, and they said something about how "De Clancy brothers is actually supposed to be the Delancy brothers…" or that that was how it was supposed to be spelled…and as my TNG readers (biankies and FansieFace) know, the Clancy brothers and Delancy brothers are two different sets of brothers. The Clancy brothers are NOT the Delancy brothers… ;) Just thought that was kinda funny!**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **I hope you enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 8!**

" _They were going to get Jack back. Whatever it took."_

The first time anyone outside the "Core Four" noticed that Jack was gone was in the morning, when they arrived at the distribution center. Normally, everyone could see the older boy, as he towered over all of them-including Race (although the younger boy was almost as tall). He was also the front line of defense against the Delancy brothers, as he was usually the one to threaten them with bodily harm if they didn't give the newsies their papers.

"'Ey, Race…where's Jack?" Sniper queried cautiously, looking around as if their leader would suddenly appear out of nowhere. Race sighed, before replying, "Pulitzer wanted ta see him 'bout sumthin'. He said we should jus' do our normal thing till he gits back."

"Why dose Pulitzer wanna see him?" Scabs asked. "He only wants ta see one a us iffn' we did sumthin' wrong…"

"'ey-don' worry 'bout it. Jack's a big boy, an' he can take care a himself. Now-don' y'all got some papes ta sell?" The younger newsies nodded, slightly cowed under Race's slight glare, before grabbing their papers and running out to sell. After they did so, Race, Davey, and Crutchie headed up and grabbed their papers. They also each picked up a number of extra papers. They knew how many papers Jack usually sold, and Katherine had given them enough money for each boy to buy a third of that number. This way, Jack would still have money to buy papers when he got back. The Delancy brothers tried to give them a hard time about it, but Race threatened them with a large amount of bodily harm (much more than Jack ever had), and they eventually shut up. That done, the three boys headed out to sell.

"I never woulda taken ya as dat much of a beat-em-up guy, Race."

"Crutchie-how long have you known Race?"

"I know dat…but dat goes even beyond wat he normally dose."

"'ey-ya know dat I's _right 'ere_ , right? I can still hear ya."

"Yes, we know…we're just both surprised at how…inventive your insults were."

"Dey weren' dat inventive."

"Well, I've never heard anyone say that they'll break a man's hip with their _face_ before, so…"

"…Shut up."

During the day, the three older boys kept an eye on all of their siblings they could. The Terrible Five's vendetta was mainly against Jack, yes, but there was always the worry that they could kidnap another newsie and use the younger boy or girl as incentive for Jack to tell them where the journal was. And, with the current track record, that would probably end up being Juliet. That girl did seem to have a tendency to get kidnapped, after all. Davey wouldn't be surprised if there was some person out there writing stories about it all. That did seem to be the usual thing that happened, after all.

Speak of the devil…

Davey looked up at the sound of running feet to see Juliet running towards him. When she arrived, she took a second to regain her breath, before thrusting a piece of paper at him. "It's…from Katherine." she wheezed. "She came by an' said dat one a da Terrible Five gave it ta her…an' she thought ya three should see it." Davey opened it and read it quickly, unconsciously growling a little as he did so. Then, he looked down at his younger sister. "Juliet-can you go tell Race and Crutchie to meet me here? I need to show this to them." Juliet nodded, suddenly looking at him sheepishly. "Also…I may or may not have read it." Davey let out a small sigh, before nodding. "All right, that's probably fine…but you remember the current rule about this whole problem, right?"

Juliet nodded vigorously. "Don' tell da others-an' I won'. I swear." Her older brother nodded, and with that, she ran off to find Race and Crutchie. Within five minutes or so, both boys were on their way over. "Wat is it, Davey?" Crutchie asked. "Wen Juliet came over, she looked kinda nervous…an' scared."

Davey pulled out the paper, passing it over to his brother. "This is why. She got it from Katherine, who received it from a member of the Terrible Five." Crutchie read it quickly, cursing under his breath as he did so. "Wat's it say, Crutch?" Race queried, the only one to not have read the paper. Crutchie sighed, trying to compose himself as he did so. "It…it says… _Iffn' ya wanna git Jack back in one piece, bring us da journal, an' let us leave da state. Iffn' ya don'…dere may be a few pieces missin'._ " Race let out a _very_ audible curse at those words. "Who do dese bastards think dey are? I's gonna sock 'em in dere-"

" _Race._ " Davey interjected. He waited until his older brother looked at him before continuing. "They have Jack, there's nothing we can do about that right now. What we can do, however, is come up with a plan to get Jack _back_. And, unfortunately…I think Specs and Romeo might have a chance to put their recently-learned skills to use.

Jack slowly came to, groaning as he did so. His head was still extremely sore, and he had a feeling that that whack from Ashely's frying pan didn't help matters. He could tell he at least had a concussion, but nothing else was that sore.

 _Yet._

"Well, Jack-welcome back to the land of the living." Jack scoffed at the older boy, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Why don'cha shut your face, Stan, 'fore I shut it for ya? I know what'cha want, an' I also know dat dere's no way ya's getting' ya hands on it."

"Oh, I think we will, eventually. After all, you wouldn't be here if we didn't think we could get it out of you in the end."

"Ya don' know da first thing 'bout us, den…we don' give up. At all. We don' let a little thing like gettin' kidnapped or beaten up or worse slow us down."

"Oh really-I was under the impression that you all broke rather easily."

"Have ya _not_ heard 'bout our strike an' two court cases? Iffin' ya hav, ya should know dat we never gave up, no matter wat."

"Well, that was then and this is now, I'm afraid." Stan replied, finally walking out from the shadows of the room, the other Terrible Five members following suit. Jack fixed them all with a dark glare. He already knew what was coming, and he wasn't going to respond to anything they did…although he did note, rather nervously, that Daniel held a loosely-coiled length of rope, with something on the end.

Crap.

Of course they would have a whip.

"Now, Jack…you can either tell us now, or we will be forced to use…alternate methods."

"Well, then, I's afraid ya's wastin' ya time, since I ain' tellin' ya anythin'. An' I knows my siblings ain' gonna either." Jack mocked. "An' iffn' ya could take ya heads outta ya butts for a few minutes, ya'd see it too." Daniel growled lightly, before punching him in the jaw. Jack didn't make a sound, already resolved to not giving them that satisfaction, before turning back to the older boy. "Ya know, Daniel-ya punch like a girl. An' dat's saying somethin', cause Ashely, Karen punch worse den dat…and Joseph cain't punch at all…" He grunted a little as Joseph socked him in the stomach, but other than that he made no sound. Stan (clearly having decided to lead this little "gathering", as the others had about as much collective intelligence as a chipmunk, in Jack's eyes) tsked, shaking his head, his eyes not leaving Jack's face. "I'm sorry, Jack…but we need that journal. We aren't leaving here without it…and you're not leaving here at all, I'm afraid." Jack chuckled darkly, rolling his eyes. He knew that Race, Davey, and Crutchie would be looking for him right now, and that Katherine would probably be getting the police involved. It hadn't always been that way in the past-they didn't have enough newsies to spare looking for another if they got lost or taken, as much as they wanted to-but his siblings now would move heaven and earth before they would leave a sibling in trouble. He just hoped that Race wouldn't go and do something reckless to find him. Jack trusted the younger boy with his life, but he also knew that Race didn't always think about what he was doing. He had a good heart, though, which reassured Jack a bit more. He knew that Race would lead his siblings well in his absence. He just hoped his siblings would find him soon.

 _CRACK!_

" _Dey'll find me."_ Jack thought as the Five truly started. _"I know dey will."_

 _ **A/N 2: Welp…this went well! I apologize that the chapter was short, but I was kinda grinding it out there at the end… but I'm glad how it turned out!**_ __ _ **I also kind of had three points on the outline, but it didn't make a lot of sense to split it up in the way I did, so I just combined them…and it got kinda short. Again, I'm super sorry that this is super short…but I hope y'all liked it!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	9. Hang In There

**A/N: Hello, all! I'm sorry I took so long to update this…I've had a bad couple of weeks school-wise…basically feeling like I was just treading water for a while. Thankfully I have some time to regroup today and tomorrow, so I should be back to my normal "awesomeness" on Monday. (fingers crossed) I also was publishing a two-parter called "I Ain't Sick", which is a Newsies standalone fic, and the first story where I actually managed not to hurt anyone. I know, aren't you all shocked? ;) Then, I just recently got hooked by the show Teen Wolf and their fanfiction…good Lord that cast is attractive (well, certain members, anyways…in my personal opinion), and I love watching the show. To that end, I started** _ **another**_ **multi-chapter (why do I do this to myself?) called "The Beta from Forest Grove", which is a Teen Wolf fic! If you enjoy the story, I hope you check it out! It's got two chapters up so far, and** _ **yes, I outlined the entire thing…**_ **haha.**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LOVE THEM ALL!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Wait-the "terrible fove"? Bit confused…haha, sorry about that…I meant to post, but then school and Teen Wolf and Harry Potter and crap took over…** **I'm sure your teacher won't mind…there's still a cliff in this chapter, but it's not as bad.** **Yeah, I definitely agree…which is why I'm trying very hard not to get up and make coffee. I'll just go make some tea or something…cause that doesn't have caffeine. I am consciously avoiding caffeine highs when I'm writing. ;) Haha-yes, a little caffeine goes a long way. I agree, that is how I'm staying awake in classes at the moment. And haha…I know you enjoyed that story!** **Yeah, I can't understand why anyone would ship them-it's so stupid! If there is an established ship, you don't mess with it! (unless the show's ship is utterly stupid. Or if it's Twilight-then you just smack everyone silly.) Haha-yeah, I've referenced my readers a bunch in my stories (including you), so I figured it would be time for me to make fun of myself. Yeah…they're gonna need it…. You're welcome, and I hope you enjoy this update!**

 **FansieFace: What? Haha-I totally get that! I read fanfics by someone named "celticgal1041", and I'm the same way with her-I love her, but her cliffhangers are ATROCIOUS! (and she's the one I caught the "Evil Cliffie Disease" from…oh boy…) Oh boy…I'm sorry, Hulu! Don't go in your corner! Haha-whenever I think of Ahoy, I keep thinking of Snoopy sitting on Lucy's head like a vulture…** **Hopefully they don't end up on your head! Haha…hopefully this should be a good bit longer…and, um…I don't think Ahoy's going to like me very much this chapter…** **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **S. Castro: Hey-I miss you! I hope you're doing well!**

 **GraceLeah07: Hey! I definitely am writing! And thanks for your kind words on "I Ain't Sick"!** **I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Musicalphan: Hey! Sorry I left you for this long…as mentioned in the author's note, my life went to crap for a couple weeks…hopefully it should be all right now! ;) Haha, I do that all the time…I'm really bad at it too, I last maybe 5 minutes…** **Thanks!** **Hahahahaha-that's awesome-and it actually did make me want to post more!** **(partly because reviews make me happy, and help me know that you guys are happy!) I hope you (and your guests ;) ) enjoy this chapter!**

 **TheDarkWitch24: I don't know…I just have a talent for getting my OCs kidnapped and hurt, I guess. I would say it's because I don't want the main guys to get hurt, but my long-time readers would tell you right away that that's definitely not true…that's a good idea, but I don't know if the bad guys ever know how close they are, so they might not know to do that…it is a good idea, though! (Oh no, now I'm getting a new multi-chapter idea…dang it! ;) )**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 9!**

" _Dey'll find me." Jack thought as the Five truly started. "I know dey will."_

Jack let out a deep breath. After the Five had tired of beating him up-and realized that he wasn't going to give up the journal's location, they had decided to leave him alone for a while, slinking off to their own homes. He, of course, was still tied up. They had left him standing, with his arms tied above his head-the same position, he recognized, that Juliet had been left in the last time she had gotten kidnapped. " _Iffn' I's glad a anything…I's glad it isn' her that got grabbed dis time. I's glad it's me dis time. Dat girl needs ta stop gettin' kidnapped all da time._ " He let out a breathless chuckle, thinking about all the times that his sister had gotten grabbed.

It did tend to happen a lot.

"Now what would you have to laugh about, Jack?"

"Lotsa things are funny, Stan. Ya should try it sometime."

Stan rolled his eyes, stepping fully into the light. The older boy's eyes were fixed solely on him, which-Jack couldn't deny-was a bit unnerving. With him, he dragged an old, rickety chair, which he placed a little ways away from Jack, plopping himself down a few seconds later. "Were's all a ya minions, Stan? Ya git tired a dem dat quickly?"

"Not tired, just annoyed. You know how that goes-you just need to get away for a while from all the crazy."

"Heh…I can understand dat 'bout ya. True, my siblings can annoy da heck outta me, but I still love 'em. Without 'em, I wouldn' be nuthin'." Stan scoffed, rolling his eyes at the newsie leader. "Why do you stay with them, Jack? Why…why degrade yourself in such a low position, when you could choose to work anywhere else in New York? Or why not…what was it…oh yes-visit Santa Fe?"

"Ya know, iffn' I could git ovar dere, you's face would be all ovar da floor." Jack snarled. "Dis is wat I do well, an' were I belong. My family is everything ta me, which I don't think ya get, since ya completely betrayed yours an' got a nine-year-old brother a you's killed. So don'cha lecture me 'bout leavin' dem. Ya don' git ta do dat."

Stan rolled his eyes. "Well then, I suppose I'll get to lecture you about something else-where is that journal?" Jack stared straight at him, saying nothing. Stan sighed. "It's a simple question, Jack, one that doesn't require that much thought to produce an answer. Where is my journal?" Again, no reply from Jack. "You know you aren't getting out of here until you tell us. And your 'siblings' won't be able to do anything with it either, I've got people watching them. If they try to make any move with it, the will be attacked most severely, and then we will have the journal and be home free."

"You touch them and I'll kill you." Jack responded, looking more and more murderous the longer Stan talked. He was certain that the Terrible Five weren't going to lay a finger on his siblings. Of that he was sure. "Why'd ya pick on Abram anyways? He wasn' doin' nuthin' ta hurt ya…he was one a you's brothers. Why'd ya decide ta up an' kill 'em?"

"He was weak, and a cancer to the rest of us."

"Wat do ya mean?"

"A group is only as strong as its weakest link, Jack. You know this as well as I do. Abram was our weakest link, and would have dragged us all down. And, well, the easiest way to get rid of the problem…cut it out at the source."

"So you would rather kill a kid- _one a you's own_ _ **brothers**_ -den help him out. Seriously? Monk an' I should'a gotten ya arrested wen we had da chance."

"Yes, you should have…because now it's too late. We will get that journal back, and we will walk out of here free men…and women."

"You ain't never getting' outtta here. My newsies won' let'cha." Stan chuckled darkly, standing up as he did so. "Rest assured, Jack…your subordinates aren't going to do anything to us…or to you. In fact, it'll be a wonder if they even find you." He laughed again, before starting to walk off. "Enjoy solitary confinement!" he called over his shoulder as he left the room. Once the door closed behind him, Jack let out a sigh, sagging against the restraints. He had been able to hold it together for his conversation with Stan, but his injuries were _really_ starting to bug him. He sighed, thinking of his siblings-and especially about Race, Davey, and Crutchie. He knew his disappearance would be driving them crazy, and that they would probably be out looking for him on their own, not wanting any of the other newsies to know about the journal, or really the Terrible Five in general. He knew the separation would be hard on Race in particular, as he would have to lead the newsies in Jack's stead…on one hand, he wasn't stuck in the Refuge, which would be of some comfort to the younger boys…but on the other hand, they had no idea where he was, which would make it worse.

" _Hang in dere, guys…I know ya can do it."_

"Alright-hush up now, y'all!" Race demanded. The rest of the newsies slowly began to settle, looking at the lieutenant in confusion and intrigue. Pulitzer had given them the day off-after Davey and Katherine had told him what had happened, and the three "Core Four" members had decided, albeit reluctantly, to call a family meeting, and tell the other newsies what was going on. They knew that their siblings would notice Jack's continued absence, and figured that it was better to give them the straight-up truth of what was happening, rather than try to lie to them, and have to deal with the backlash once they got Jack back. "Now, I's sure y'all is wonderin' were Jack is…"

"Yeah-were is he?"

"Wat happened ta him?"

"Why isn' he here?"

"Did Pulitzer do sumtin' ta him?"

" _ **ENOUGH!**_ "

At that shout, the entire Living Room-heck, probably even the whole Lodging House-went completely silent. It wasn't often that their limbic raised his voice to that volume or let it go that sharp, and the shock of it shut everyone up. "Thank ya. Now, we's gonna tell ya wat's goin' on, but we cain't do dat if y'all is yellin' ovar us, understand?" When the others nodded, he continued. "Good. Here's wat we's gonna do-Race is gonna tell ya wat's going on, an' all a ya's gonna shut up an' listen ta him, alright?" The others nodded again. Race turned grateful eyes on the younger boy. "Thanks, Crutch."

"Don' mention it."

Race sighed, trying to act like his siblings all staring at him wasn't freaking him out a lot. "Jack…has been kidnapped."

"WHAT?"

Crutchie glared at the other newsies, who immediately shut up. Race nodded thankfully back at him, before continuing. "I don' know iffn' ya have seen any of dese bastards 'round here, but dere's been dese five kids runnin' 'round-three guys an' two girls. Jack used ta know dem from wen dey was newsies, like us. Dey left da newsies a while ago…maybe ten years ago or so…wen dey led ta da death of a nine-year-old brother a deres." The entire room burst out in anger, but they quickly quieted down again. "Jack found something dat would git dem arrested for good, but dey left before he could do it. Now dey's' back, and dey kidnapped Jack ta git it back."

"But dey don' have it, do dey?"

"No, dey don'. But now we have ta git da…item ta da police without dem knowin', an' find Jack and get him outta werever dey's keepin' him." The others nodded, looking nervous. "We don' know were he is yet, so dere ain' much we can do at da moment. But once we do know something, we's gonna let ya know, alright? Now, y'all go an' git some food. We's gonna plan some stuff." His siblings nodded, and slowly started walking off. As they did, the three "Core Four" members could see Romeo and Juliet off to the side of the room.

"Did ya know 'bout dis, Juliet?"

"Know about wat?"

"You know exactly wat I's talkin' 'bout. Did ya know about wat's goin' on with Jack an' all a dis?" The silence from his younger sister gave Romeo all the answer he needed. "Why didn' ya tell me 'bout it? I's guessin' dat dey was dose five dat attacked us…why didn' ya tell me?"

"…cause Jack, Race, Davey an' Crutchie told me not ta. I wanted ta tell ya, but…"

"Ya still coulda told me, Juliet. I thought we trusted each other like dat." Romeo scowled, before shaking his head. Davey decided to come to his younger sister's rescue, heading over to the two of them. "Romeo-she's telling the truth. Jack asked her not to tell anyone when she found out. Heck, he didn't even tell us for a while."

"Why not? She's my best friend-we tell each othar everythin'!"

"I know…but would you want to get in trouble with Jack?" Romeo looked down, not really having thought about it. "I know she wanted to tell you, but she didn't want to get into trouble with Jack. Know that if that wasn't the case, she would have told you….and it killed her not to kill you." Romeo gulped, looking at his sister. She was biting her lip-a clear tell that she was trying not to cry, and fidgeting nervously while looking down at the ground. Romeo sighed, gently laying a hand on her shoulder (and trying not to grimace at the fact that she flinched as he did so. "I's sorry, Juliet. I didn' git dat before…I jus' thought dat ya didn' trust me. I didn' realize dat ya was gonna git in trouble if ya did. Forgive me?" He held out his arms towards Juliet, who immediately turned into her older brother's embrace. Davey grinned in relief, before looking up to see Crutchie and Race pulling Specs back into the room. He tapped the two on their shoulders. "Hey, Romeo…we have to talk to you about something." Romeo looked up, reluctantly letting Juliet go. "Wat's up?"

"Well, ya know how da two a ya have been gettin' trainin' from Doc Menken?" Race queried. His brothers nodded. "Yeah-why?" Specs queried.

"Cause we wanted ta warn ya…dat we's probably gonna need dose skills." Specs and Romeo looked at each other grimly, before nodding. "Don' worry, Race-we's got'cha covered." Specs responded, Romeo nodding from behind him. Just then, someone behind them cleared their throat, and the six turned to see Les and Snitch standing there. "Race-we had an idea." Snitch muttered.

"Wat is it?"

"We figured, that since we're the youngest…and the shortest…that we could go sneak around and try to find where the five are keeping Jack." The "Core Four" members looked at each other, contemplating for a second, before Davey and Juliet had a silent conversation.

Les and Snitch were _their_ brothers, after all.

"I suppose ya can. But ya have ta promise me dat ya ain't gonna try ta go aftar dem yousselves. If ya find out were dey's keepin' Jack, ya come straight back here an' tell us, alright? Den da rest a us will figure out how ta go git him."

Les and Snitch nodded, already heading out of the room. The six remaining newsies looked at each other nervously.

" _Hang in there, Jack. We're coming for you."_

 _ **A/N 2: Well…this chapter actually worked out pretty well! I'm glad that I finished it…it had been bugging me for a while that I left you guys on such a terrible cliffhanger…I do apologize for that! It was necessary for the story, but it was completely awful. I was literally talking with some friends about fanfiction, and talking about how dreadful that cliffhanger was. I kind of got obsessed with The Leah Chronicles for a while, and then my new Teen Wolf fic…but I wanted to actually get this chapter out…especially with how busy school has been. I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully it'll be soon!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	10. Something Bad Happening in Manhattan

**A/N: Hey, all! I am super sorry that this chapter took so long in coming out…there's been this thing called college getting in my way…plus work and musicals. I am trying to find a good time to write…it's just hard.** **You know how it is. I've also gotten addicted to some shows on Netflix (** _ **Flash**_ **, anyone?), and am currently really into the game** _ **Dishonored**_ **(which is FREAKING HARD!** **Haha…I am trying to find time to write, though. I swear.**

 **So, this chapter, I'm happy to announce, has the privilege of reuniting with one of the characters I got to bring in during TNG…keep an eye out! They'll be coming in near the end…but they're not an OC-they're from the actual play. Super excited to write them again! ;)**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Haha, no problem-I do that all the time, especially since I've gotten to the point where I can look away from the computer while typing…which can lead to some interesting spelling mistakes. ;) Yeah-I think reading so much of J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and others kind of put me off of killing main characters…supporting cast, maybe…but not mainers.** **Yay! Haha…it's not bad, it's just hard now that I've gotten so deep into my style of constantly hurting them. ;) It was nice to write a different type, though. Yeah, I agree-coffee is fantastic.** **Hm…I honestly can't stand the books either…I tried reading the first one and couldn't get past the first three pages…but you do you, I guess. ;) I agree-especially Kristen Stewart… No problem! Yeah, I am too-I figured that the newsies wouldn't always get along with each other, and that I hadn't really ever written a fight between them…and I figured that Romeo would be upset that Juliet didn't tell him what was going on. And thanks!** **Haha…no, those two are definitely safe. ;) I hope this is "soon" enough, and luckily I'm on spring break! ;)**

 **FansieFace: Hey! I don't think you reviewed the last chapter…but I hope you and Hulu (and Ahoy) are doing well!** **(BTW-I heard from someone that the TalkFictions website was taken down…I'm not fully sure, but I'm like 85% sure it's gone.)**

 **S. Castro: Hey! I don't care if you're not still on here or not…I'm still going to "respond to your reviews"! Miss ya, and hope you're doing well!**

 **TheDarkWitch24: Haha…I'm glad you're so excited about it! Yeah, I didn't really have a good spot for them to shine until now…I contemplated it during Rich Man's Newsie, but it didn't really work out. I'm glad they get to do some stuff now, though!**

 **MusicalPhan: Haha-I totally get it!** **I am definitely that way on other people's fics…Hopefully this wasn't too long…and I'm currently on spring break, so I've got a** _ **bit**_ **of a breather (YAY!). Hope you like this chapter!**

 **Livelearnlovesing: Hey-that's not a bad idea. If I do end up working on it, it'll probably end up on the backburner for a** _ **while**_ **(since I have…what is it now, 6 multi-chapters going on, I think?), but that could be an interesting story! I'll have to think on it for a while, but we'll see! (especially since I would have to figure out which main newsies would be around, and how many I'd need to OC…)**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 10!**

" _Hang in there, Jack. We're coming for you."_

"Come on, now, Jack. This could be over within seconds, if you just tell us where the journal is." Karen, Ashely, Daniel, and Joseph had finally rejoined Stan, and the five were taking turns beating Jack up when he didn't respond to their questions. "Abram's death happened a long time ago, and the police have no interest in dragging up an old case they barely concerned themselves with. Why cling to the impossible dream that we could go to jail for it? You couldn't stop us then, and you can't stop us now."

"Ya don' know jack 'bout us, den." Jack snarled, inwardly smiling at the joke he had just made. Stan rolled his eyes, but Jack continued on. "We defeated Pulitzer, an' kept him from raisin' da price a da paper. Den, we stopped da bastard Comstocks, Clancy brothers, an' Warden Snyder in da court, and afta' dat, we stopped dem rich bastards tryin' ta git rid'a us." He smirked, thoroughly unimpressed with the Terrible Five's efforts. "So ya can try me all ya want-I ain't gonna give in, an' neither is my siblings. We's made a stronger stuff den dat." He slowly breathed out, trying not to make any sort of noise regarding his injuries. He could tell, just by what he was feeling, that he was in bad shape.

 _Very_ bad shape.

At this point, Jack wasn't really concerned about himself (although he was worried about his injuries, to be sure), but more about his siblings-especially Race. If he knew Race, the moment the younger boy saw him, his anger would flare up into murderous rage-and without Jack to stop him, he might very well charge straight for the Terrible Five. Jack was usually the one to hold him back, but there was no way in heck that he would be able to do that now. Crutchie would be no match for the taller newsie either, and Jack highly doubted that Davey would be able to hold their lieutenant back.

In short, they were going to need all hands on deck to stop Race from acting out in anger…and he was hard to stop on the best of days.

" _Crap…dis is gonna be a problem. Race, don' do anathin' stupid wen ya git here."_

"Mere trifles, Jack, compared to what's going to happen if you don't tell us where the journal is. You and the other newsies think you've lived through hell-but you've barely even begun to scratch the surface. By the time we're through, there won't be a newsie in Manhattan left to stand against us. No one will know what transpired here, and we'll be home free. Even better, you all will probably end up fired, and out on the streets!" All five laughed in gleeful expectation, imagining what Stan said coming true. Jack merely rolled his eyes, outwardly the image of stoicism and calmness.

On the inside, however, he was freaking out.

" _Crap…we haveta stop dese guys before it gits outta hand._

 _Race, Davey, Crutchie…ya guys better hurry up._

 _Otharwise…dis is gonna git real bad."_

At that very same moment, Les and Snitch were running around Manhattan. They had finished selling rather quickly, and had alerted Race, Davey, and Crutchie that they were heading out to look for Jack. They figured that they had the best chance of finding their older brother, as they (being the youngest, and as adorable as they were) were able to charm and weasel their way into places their older siblings were never able to go.

They had just narrowly avoided a fight with some older street kids (although Les now had a nice shiner on his left eye that he _knew_ Davey was going to be enraged over) when they heard an odd noise coming from their right. They locked eyes with each other, before slowly sneaking over towards the sound. It was coming from a small warehouse on the corner of two alleyways. There was a small hole in the wall (built for what purpose, Les and Snitch had no idea) that allowed them to see inside the building. As soon as they did so, they quietly gasped in horror.

"Oh my gosh…" Snitch murmured. They had finally found Jack…but the situation was not good. They both remembered what Juliet looked like after her two soakings, as well as-more recently-Crutchie, Romeo, and Specs…and they could say with absolute certainty that this was worse.

 _Much_ worse.

They couldn't see too far inside the building, but they could see Jack very clearly, and a couple of the Terrible Five. They could also just make out someone saying, " _By the time we're through, there won't be a newsie in Manhattan left to stand against us. No one will know what transpired here, and we'll be home free. Even better, you all will probably end up fired, and out on the streets!_ " Both of the younger newsies had to immediately hold themselves back from jumping through the window and tackling the older teens right then and there. Luckily for them, however, Stan cleared his throat. "Let's give our guest some time to reflect on his situation, shall we? There are still some preparations we must make before the journal comes into our possession, after all." The other four seemed to complain, but finally all headed for the door. "Hide-quick!" Les murmured. The two ten-year-olds quickly scurried behind a nearby low wall and watched as the Terrible Five came out the door, locking it behind them before heading down a side street. Once they were gone, the two boys immediately rushed back. "Jack! Can you hear us?" Les called through the window. Jack briefly started, before looking around the room in confusion. "Over here-by the window!" Snitch whispered. Finally, Jack's searching eyes found them, and the older teen gaped. "Les, Snitch-how did ya find me?"

"Unfortunately, by following the sounds of punching." Les murmured. Jack let out a gentle huff, stopping quickly when it pulled on his injuries. "Ya gotta let da othars know were I is, alright? Iffn' we don' act quick, dis is gonna git really bad real fast. An' we…we cain't let dat happen, right?" Both of his younger siblings nodded. Jack smiled at them (or, as much as he could, with the condition that his face was in). "Good. Oh…aftar ya tell Race, Davey, an' Crutchie were I is…make sure ya warn Davey."

"Warn him? About what?"

"Warn him dat Race is probably gonna go berserk wen he sees me…and dat Davey's probably gonna have ta hold him back from goin' on a murderous rampage. I don' want him ta be caught unawares, so make sure ya tell him, alright?" Once the boys nodded, he sighed. "Good-now go tell da othars. I won' be goin' nowhere any time soon." Les and Snitch both nodded, before slowly getting back up. "Don't worry, Jack-we'll get you out of there. I promise." Snitch murmured, just audible enough for his older brother to hear him. "I know, kiddo-I trust ya."

Race had just finished selling when he heard it-the pounding of feet coming up the street. He turned around to see Les and Snitch running straight for him. As they pulled up, he knelt down to their eye level. "Wat is it? Did ya find Jack?" At their nods, he turned his head towards the other end of the street. "Davey, Crutchie-git you's butts ovar here!" Both of the other "Core Four" members had been selling nearby, since those three corners allowed them the best view of the rest of their siblings. It wasn't perfect, but it worked well enough. At Race's call, both the advisor and the limbic quickly headed over. "Wat's up, Race?"

"Dey found Jack."

"Where? …And Les, what happened to your eye?"

Yep, Davey was enraged.

"It's nothing-we got into a quick scrape with some street kids, but got out of it just as quickly. I wasn't watching everything and caught an errant punch, but that's all that happened. We did find Jack, though." All three of the older newsies sighed in relief as Les confirmed it.

"Were is he?"

"In a small warehouse on the corners of alleyways between Fifty-Seventh and Eighth. The only way in that we could see was through the front door, which they locked before they left."

"How's Jack doin'?"

"Um…he's…he's not very good. It's…it's not good." Race cursed audibly under his breath, and would have immediately stormed off if Crutchie hadn't grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute, Race. We cain't go runnin' off ta rescue him without plannin' it out first. Dat's wat Jack would do, ain't it?" Race briefly tried to yank his arm out of Crutchie's grip, but the younger boy's grip was iron, and-to be honest-he wasn't really trying anyways. Finally, he sighed, finally stopping. "Alright…we'll do it your way. But we's gotta git him out soon-before somethin' _real_ bad happens." The others nodded, and they slowly started back for the Lodging House. Before they got there, however, Juliet and Romeo came rushing out to meet them. "Race-we's got company!" Romeo announced as soon as they arrived. For a moment, their older brothers were worried, but the joyful expressions on their faces quickly reversed that. "Who is it?" Crutchie queried. As they followed their younger siblings, Les and Snitch quickly pulled on Davey's arm, before murmuring in his ear. Davey listened, before nodding. "All right-thanks for letting me know." As the group walked in the room, Race almost immediately stopped dead. "'Ey…wat're ya all doin' here?"

"We heard 'bout wat's goin' on with Jack…an' we wanta help. No one takes one'a our own an' lives ta tell 'bout it." the other boy replied, firmly shaking hands with Race. "We's got our stuff covered back home, an' so we's all here ta help ya."

Race sighed, finally allowing himself to grin. "Thanks, Spot. Right now, we could use all da help we can git."

 _ **A/N 2: Well…I'm actually glad with how this chapter turned out! :) I'm excited to bring Spot back…and he's bringing Smalls with him! ;) I'm honestly just excited with where this story is going to go! (And the fact that I finished this chapter in about two hours…maybe less… :D ) Hopefully the next chapter should be out soonish…and it won't take a month again like last time! ;) Haha…sorry about that. Fair warning-the next two chapters should be cliffhangers…although the second one is more of a "how it happens" cliffhanger instead of "what happens". It's so weird that this story will be over soon…but I'm glad I have 3 more chapters to finish it out! (Plus my "Thank You" chapter…**_ __ _ **)**_

 _ **Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	11. A Plan Comes Together

**Hello, all! I am glad to be getting back to this story…I've been writing a lot of TLC lately, and so I'm glad to be updating WJC.** **I'm going to go see the show in 8 days (OHMIGOSH I'M GOING TO SEE NEWSIES IN 8 DAYS!), and so I figured I'd update it now.** **There's only 2 more chapters left after this one…when did that happen? ;) I'm going on a choir tour on Thursday, so I probably won't be able to update for a while…but we'll see. This is also kind of a late birthday present to myself, because I turned 19 this last Friday!** **Yay! ;) I had 7 hours of rehearsal, and so I'm kind of in a musical mood at the moment. I'm hoping to finish this up by May…I've got performances for a while in that month, and so it'll be good to be done by then. I don't know when I'll publish another story, but hopefully I'll get another oneshot out soonish!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I'M JUST GEEKING OUT BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SEE NEWSIES IN 8 DAYS AHH!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Hey-did you see the new chapter 10 that came up? I don't know if you did or not, since you didn't review it, but…I hope you enjoy this one too!**

 **Musical-phan: Yep! I do too!** **Thanks! Yeah, I always hate this point, because the story is really ramping up by this point, but it's also almost over…augh! Unfortunately, yes…and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Hey, you're good-I've basically spent the last couple weeks or so just reading/favoriting stories without reviewing any of them…so you're good on that! ;) Yeah, I agree-I hadn't really written a lot of stuff for the two of them, and I don't feel like they would want to sit out on the sidelines… ;) It just took a while to figure out how they help/what they could do. Haha, I'm glad you like Les…and no, I can't tell at all… (insert sarcasm here) ;) Yeah, the way I've developed Race, I have a feeling that he would go off on a murderous rampage, and (as I mentioned in "Core Four") Jack is the only one who's strong enough to hold him…so he's really hoping that Race isn't the first to find him…or that there's other newsies there to help Davey out…Yay-thank you! :D Oh boy, Hulu…don't go too crazy! I still need FansieFace! At least we know what Hulu's like…Ahoy might be a bit of a problem, though… ;) (You're not reading Job again, are you?)**

 **TheDarkWitch24: Haha…no, I can't tell at all… (insert sarcasm here) ;) I agree-I wanted to give them something to do, since they kinda tend to get left in the background a bit…and yep, Brooklyn's here! I'm excited for that too…although I don't know if Race'll get to fight anyone…I'm not sure if it'll get onto a full-on battle or not…** **I hope you like this chapter!**

 **Alexiz: Hey! I hope you mean that you liked the last chapter…and I hope you like this one!**

 **So, I started this A/N and chapter a week or so ago….and so it says that I'm going to see Newsies in 8 days…but I am very very happy to say: AS OF RIGHT NOW IT IS APRIL 19** **TH** **WHICH MEANS THAT I AM GOING TO SEE NEWSIES TONIGHT OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO NEWSIES TONIGHT AHH! #SeizeTheDay**

 **REFERENCE ALERT! (to "The Core Four")**

 **CLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 11!**

" _Race sighed, finally allowing himself to grin. 'Thanks, Spot. Right now, we could use all da help we can git.'"_

"So Jack is stuck in a warehouse…here, a bit below ground. Les and Snitch said that the only way in they could find was the front door, which the Terrible Five lock each time they leave." Davey explained. He, Race, Crutchie, and Spot were in one of the private rooms, looking over a small map of New York. The rest of the newsies were hanging out in the Living Room.

"Dat shouldn' be too hard ta git open-Smalls can pick anathin'." Spot muttered. The Bronx newsie had joined their group right before they had arrived in Manhattan. She had demanded to go with them, and when asked why, she had one word in response:

"Juliet."

No other word was needed. Everyone remembered how close the two girls had become during Juliet's first few months as a newsie, and knew that she would need the Bronx's newsie's help to get through these next few days. They had bonded during the whole "Comstock Crisis" (which was what most newsies now called the incident), and Smalls knew that if her friend was going to get through this time without having a nervous breakdown, she would have to be there.

"Yeah, I can pick it. Jus' git me dere, an' I can git it open." Smalls murmured. She was sitting over in the corner, just listening to the others. She now sat forwards, looking at the others. "It shouldn' take too long for me ta git it open."

"Alright, den-ya can come with us." Race sighed. "I don' know if Juliet should come, dough. She's gonna want ta come, but I dunno if she really should."

"Ya know she's gonna refuse ta stay here. She's gonna wanna come with us." Crutchie murmured. He sighed. "An' if she does…she might have another panic attack or somethin'."

All four boys sighed, not really looking forward to having to tell Juliet whether she could come or not. "If she does come…we should bring Romeo with us. He has a connection to Juliet that the rest of us don't have, and will be able to help her if something does happen." Davey muttered. The others nodded, looking back at the map. "Alright-here's wat we do." Race declared. "Jack told us dat da Terrible Five got outta here with help from da Delancy brothers, who got dem ta New Jersey or sumthin'. We can distract dem by gettin' da word out that we found sumthin' dat would connect dem ta bein' ovar dere, cause dey's been saying dat dey weren' nowhere near dere. Den, while dey's gone, we git da journal ta da courthouse, so dat dey can' find it, an' we git Jack out at da same time."

"So dey come back, an' both a da things is already done?"

"Yeah. It'll have ta be sumthing good, dough-otherwise it won' work."

"And, as a bonus, Race-whoever takes the journal to the courthouse can take Juliet with them. That way she won't see Jack until later, when he'll hopefully look…marginally better."

"How're ya gonna git da doctor here dat quickly?"

"We's got Specs an' Romeo-dey's been training with da Doc in order ta help us out with dis kinda stuff. Once we git Jack back, da two a dem'll help him out…an' Smalls can hang out with Juliet while dat's happenin'."

"I can do dat. Do ya want me ta keep her away from Jack?"

"Yeah-at least 'til Specs an' Romeo are done. I don' want her to see Jack like how he's gonna look when we git him out."

Davey sighed. "All right-so here's the plan we have so far. Juliet and Romeo can go take the journal to the courthouse, and maybe Katherine can go with them, just to make sure that they're all right. While that's happening, the rest of us will draw the Terrible Five out-if they are there-and then get Jack out of there. The police can then arrest the Terrible Five and throw them in jail, and then the main focus will be on helping him heal. That sound good to everyone?" Each person in the group nodded. "All right then-let's go tell the others. We need to carry it out as soon as possible."

Judge Bolger sighed, running a hand through his hair. He hadn't been working too hard as of late, but there were a few cases beginning to pile up, and all of them were very lengthy and word-heavy and technical. His brain was beginning to hurt…and of course, all of the cases he was working on were high profile, which meant that the reporters were clambering over him for interviews.

A soft knock on his door startled him, before he called out, "Who is it?"

"It's Katherine, sir. Katherine Pulitzer." The Judge sighed, before crossing to the door and opening it. "Come in…pardon the mess. I've been working late as of late." Katherine chuckled quietly, following him over to his desk and sitting down opposite of him. "What can I do for you?" he queried. Katherine sighed, nervously looking around for a moment. "Race, Davey, and Crutchie sent me. They found Jack, and are planning to get him out tomorrow."

"They found him? Where is he?"

"According to Les and Snitch, he's in an abandoned warehouse between some alleyways of Fifty-Seventh and Eighth. They're planning to go in and rescue him tomorrow, and then get the Terrible Five arrested."

"Don't you all have a journal or something that will prove that they were behind the young newsie's death?"

"Yes-it's being kept safe in the Lodging House. Only Race, Davey, Crutchie, and I know where it is. Romeo, Juliet, and I are going to bring it over while everyone else is getting Jack out. That way Juliet won't see Jack while he's…well…you know…" The Judge nodded, understanding immediately. "Dr. Menken might be a bit busy tomorrow-"

"That's all right. Specs and Romeo have been training with him periodically, and they can take care of him until the doctor can arrive. They're actually doing rather well."

Judge Bolger sighed, nodding absentmindedly. "All right-thank you for letting me know. I'll be ready for all of this tomorrow…and hopefully will have cleaned up some of this mess by then. I haven't been able to get much done with all of the reporters coming in and asking for interviews and information." Katherine suddenly smiled, looking as if she had just had a brilliant thought pop into her head. "Who are those reporters? I can talk to them and get them not to come around and bother you. They shouldn't be keeping you from getting work done-which is obviously what they're doing."

Judge Bolger smiled at the younger girl. "Thank you, Katherine-I just might do that. And the Terrible Five _will_ see jail time for their crimes. I guarantee it."

The day passed rather quickly, and pretty soon, all of the newsies had fallen asleep.

 _Almost_ all of them.

Race was sitting up on the roof, leaning back against a few boxes that overlooked the city. He couldn't seem to calm down, even though he knew that their plan was rock solid and wouldn't fail-unless there were unforeseen circumstances-but he couldn't relax. He never could in these sorts of times. He got too nervous and jumpy, and would frequently be waking the other boys up in the dormitory with his pacing. This was why he was up on the roof-only Crutchie was up here, and the younger boy was already asleep on the other side of the roof. His fingers nervously thumbed through the journal. He had been reading it for a while, and was repulsed by what the Terrible Five had recorded. Not only had they written everything that had happened with Abram, but remarks about each of their fellow newsies.

When Race saw the Terrible Five next, he was going to punt them out of a window.

Repeatedly.

"Wat're ya doin' up here, Race? Ya should be sleepin', like da rest a da boys." The quiet voice from behind startled Race, and he jumped, knocking his head against a metal pipe. "Owh…hey, Crutchie. Shouldn' ya be sleepin'?"

"I was, 'til I heard ya up here." The younger boy sat down, staring kindly at the lieutenant. "We's gonna git Jack back, Race. He's gonna be alright." Race nodded quickly as he climbed out from behind the boxes-too quickly, the limbic knew. "I know he will, Crutch, I jus'…I jus'…" Race only made it about halfway across the roof before he slowly sat down on a box, placing his head in his hands and beginning to tremble. Crutchie hobbled over as fast as he could, sitting down next to his older brother before placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I cain't do dis, Crutch…I just cain't do dis. I cain't keep everyone tagether while gettin' Jack out an keepin' an eye out for da Terrible Five an'…" The older boy cut off, barely holding some tears, his eyes shining as he sighed. "If Jack don' end up okay when we git him outta dere, I don'…" And with that, he violently shuddered, before crying into his hands. He initially tried to keep it quiet, so that Crutchie wouldn't hear…but Crutchie wasn't called the limbic for no reason. He knew exactly what Race was doing, and he gently rested a hand on his brother's back, rubbing circles gently. "It's gonna be alright, Race. We's gonna git Jack outta dere, an' den Specs an' Romeo are gonna make sure dat he's alright. It'll be like he never even got caught in da first place. An' Jack would be proud a how ya's keepin' everyone tagether. I know Jack, an' I know dat wen I got caught durin' da strike, he could barely keep it tagether himself. It was ya an' Davey dat got him through it, an' gave him a reason ta keep goin'. Ya know that-ya were dere." The younger boy sighed, before continuing. "We all trust ya, Race, an' we're behind ya, watever ya want us to do. Ya trust us, right?" A nod. "Well, den-remember that we all trust and love ya, an' want ta help ya in any way we can."

"Ya's not alone, Race. Ya family's got you's back. Forever."

 _ **A/N 2: Well… I actually really like this chapter!**_ __ _ **I wrote it in about 2 days (yesterday on the bus and then today during Bible Study Methods/Chapel/Free Time, and I'm really glad with how it all worked out! Race's nervous breakdown is something I decided to put in at the last moment…I wanted to show the strain that leadership was putting on him, as he always wants to be like Jack, but he**_ _isn't_ _ **Jack, so…it was interesting to get into that. I'm sad that the story is almost ending, but I'm excited for what happens after that! I know I'll do another one-shot (since that's my pattern), but I'm not sure what'll happen…although literally as I wrote that sentence an idea popped into my head of something happening to Davey…oh boy...this should be interesting. I'm also really excited for tonight, since I'm going to see Newsies…and I posted about it on Twitter and had my tweet favorited by Jeff Calhoun/Christopher Gattelli and commented on by the official Newsies Twitter thingy…haha…apparently Newsies people like me!**_ __ __

 _ **I should probably sign off now…I have to go eat lunch, before going to my World Lit class, having a couple hours of free time, and then go eat dinner and see NEWSIES! I'm hoping to take pictures at the show (like of the marquees and stuff) so if anyone wants to see them, let me know, and I'll figure out a way to send them to you!**_ __

 _ **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	12. Don' Matter Ta Us

**A/N: Hello, all! I am SOOOOOOOO SORRY that this chapter is so late! I started it after I got back from** _ **Newsies**_ **(and maybe a little bit beforehand, I don't know), but I then proceeded to get slammed with e** _ **verything.**_ **Case in point, I had a ton of homework to get done, rehearsals to go to, and work to do…plus three straight "hell weeks"-Dead Week (which wasn't really a dead week, since we had a ton of stuff to turn in), Finals Week (which was a really tough week, but I saw the premiere of Captain America 3, so… ;) ), and then actual Hell Week (dress rehearsal week) this last week, and then opening night and second performance of Honk the last two nights. I'm currently lying on the couch completely exhausted from the last 3 weeks…man am I glad it's done. I'm also done with school, so I should hopefully be uploading more chapters soon! :D I'm also attempting to get a job, so….we'll see how this'll all play out. I did promise to tell you guys how** _ **Newsies**_ **was, however, and so I'll tell you: OHMIGOSH IT WAS SO STUPENDOUSLY AMAZING I CAN'T EXPLAIN HOW FANTASTIC IT WAS I LOVED IT SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I WISH I COULD GO SEE IT EVERY NIGHT! ACK I LOVE IT SO MUCH! ;) I loved going to see it, and I honestly wanted to go see it again in Seattle (because Andy Richardson was coming back as Crutchie dang it!). The show was fantastic, and I'm glad that I now understand the characters and the show that much more. And yes, I did start crying during the overture, and was nearly flat-out bawling during "Letter From the Refuge". Dear God that song has all the feels. ;)**

 **Anyways, you guys are probably tired of hearing me go on and on, so…**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LOVE THEM ALL SO FLIPPING MUCH!** **3**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: That's all right-and sweet! I know I've done that before…as have a couple other people on here, so you're good!** **I totally understand-that's exactly how my life was up until right now. I hope you like this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Haha…** **It was so fantastic that I can't even!** **I totally get what you mean by Snyder being worse than Umbridge now…and Zachary was so freaking cute! And yes, I did almost (okay, I did) start crying during "Letter From the Refuge"… ;) I do still have all my stuff from the show-and did you get the pictures I sent you? I figured you did, but you never responded to the emails, so…just wanted to make sure! Haha…I'm sorry! I promise it's coming to a resolution soon…but if there's no tension there's no story, right? ;) Unless you're my former roommate, who doesn't want stories to have any conflict whatsoever…you'll get a resolve cliffhanger this chapter, so Hulu will be happy! (and yay, no Job!) …oh boy…come on, Ahoy…don't go after FansieFace-I am the one beating people up, after all! ;) And yes, I will fix this…kind of beginning this chapter!** **I hope you enjoy it!**

 **S. Castro: Hey! I miss you and your Judge Bolger fan-ness! ;)**

 **Musicalphan: Yeah, it was amazing! I honestly loved every second of it! And Memphis as in Memphis, Tennessee? I have a brother who's going to school down in Nashville!**

 **TheDarkWitch24: Yeah, the boys really want to keep her from seeing him, since it's starting to become a panic attack trigger for her…and, well…you may or may not get to see it in this chapter… ;)**

 **Livelovelearnsing: Thank you-I really appreciate it! I figured that Race is a competent leader in his own right, but that everything that's going on would really be messing him up mentally…and I'm glad you liked it! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **RESOLVE CLIFFHANGER ALERT!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 12!**

" _Ya's not alone, Race. Ya family's got you's back. Forever."_

The next morning, the newsies were all set. They were currently hiding outside the warehouse, waiting for the Terrible Five to arrive. As soon as they did, Romeo and Juliet would immediately be sent off to Judge Bolger to turn in the journal-and another piece of information. Katherine had mentioned that the Judge had talked about needing evidence that the five had actually left New York, and the Brooklyn newsies had somehow delivered. A couple of them knew the Burnett boys and had figured out where they lived-which was in a seedy hotel on the edge of Manhattan-and had gone to "reconnect" with them. That "reconnection" ended with multiple broken bones between them, but they finally got the information they needed-the Terrible Five hadn't stayed in Manhattan, but had been smuggled out to New Jersey. It wasn't by Pulitzer's orders, though, but on Warden Snyder's. When they heard the news, every newsie had sighed in relief. Their boss (whom they had just begun to be on good terms with) hadn't betrayed them, and they had the final proof that they needed.

The Terrible Five had left Manhattan-and New York as a whole. Therefore, everything that Jack said had happened had happened.

They could finally be put away for good.

A loud whistle caught Race's ear. He slowly turned his head to see Sniper jerking his head up the street, indicating that the Terrible Five were on their way. Race sighed in relief, turning around to the two people waiting behind him. "Go an' give dat ta da Judge-an tell him everythin', ya hear? Iffn' we wanna help Jack, we gotta make sure he knows." Both Romeo and Juliet nodded, immediately turning tail and running. They were careful to avoid the road, however, as they didn't want to be spotted by any of the Five. They scampered down the streets, finally arriving at the courthouse about five minutes later-almost running directly into Katherine as they did so. "You have it?" Both of her siblings nodded. "All right, then-let's get this to Judge Bolger. I have a feeling he won't even need a trial to put these five away for good."

While his siblings were off with the journal, Race and Spot now focused their attentions on the warehouse. Joseph had made sure to lock it behind them, but they knew that that wouldn't be a problem. They had also-somehow-managed to find a copy of the blueprints of the warehouse (thanks to Davey), so they knew the place that Jack would most likely be being held. Now all they had to do was go in and get him.

The group (which included all of the newsies from both boroughs except for Les, Snitch, Romeo, and Juliet) slowly made their way towards the door, only stopping to wait while Smalls picked the lock before opening the door and heading inside. The lights were on, which helped them be able to see where they were going, and they swiftly made their way into the large part of the room. As they entered, they could hear the sounds of a stifled grunt, and Race peered around the corner to see the Terrible Five standing with their backs to him, and Jack tied up by his wrists, swaying a little from the impact of the punch. When the older boy finally looked back up, he grinned. "Oh, you're in trouble now, Stan."

"What are you talking about? If anything, you're in trouble from us… _oh_." Stan had just turned around in time to notice an angry Race striding towards him. The older man tried to back up, but it was too late, and Race socked him directly in the jaw. As if that was a signal, the other newsies rushed into the room, making short work of the Terrible Five. By the end, Davey, Specs, _and_ Mush had all grabbed ahold of Race, keeping their lieutenant in check and making sure he didn't actually murder Stan. "Race-we need him alive! I know you want to end him, and I do too, but they're going to go away for a long time, and hopefully never get out of jail! They're going to pay for what they did, but they can't if they're dead!" Davey urgently whispered. His older brother still struggled for a bit, but the advisor could see his words slowly beginning to make sense. Finally, Race stopped moving, taking a few slow and deep breaths to calm himself. Once he felt like he wasn't going to charge Stan, he nodded, and his brothers released him. Race almost immediately stepped over to Jack, gently resting a hand on his shoulder. "Man…are ya okay?" he murmured. Jack quietly chuckled, his breathing a bit ragged as he nodded. "Ya know, I think Juliet's right 'bout dat question…people only ask it wen dey know dat you's not alright." Race laughed, a bright grin showing on his face as the others crowded around. "Well den, let's gitcha outta here so dat ya can tell her, alright?" Jack rolled his eyes, but nodded, a small smile playing across his face.

It took a little while to cut Jack down, as the ropes that the Five had used were rather tight, but he finally dropped face first-right into Race and Davey's waiting arms. Spot and the other newsies yanked the Terrible Five to their feet, dragging them out the door. "We'll git dese bastards down ta dose officers ya mentioned," Spot called out as they left, "an' if dey's a little worse for wear, den…"

"Don' matter us none." Crutchie spoke for the first time, his eyes hard as he stared at the Five. He walked straight up to Stan, who he assumed was the leader of the group (from the brief interactions he had seen them have with Jack), and braced himself on his good leg and Scabs, before smacking the former newsie across the face. " _You bastard_." Crutchie muttered darkly, surprising everyone in the room, as they hadn't ever heard him use that term before.

Maybe he was spending too much time with Juliet?

"Atta…boy…Crutchie." Jack wheezed, his breathing sounding more labored every second. The Manhattan newsies who were left (and weren't "escorting" the Five to jail) all crowded around Race and Davey, helping them to settle the leader more comfortably across their shoulders, before heading out of the warehouse. It was rather slow going, and they arrived back at the Lodging House around noon. Specs held the door open for them as they entered, and then the door to the Soaking Room. Race and Davey laid Jack down on a bed, sighing in relief as they did so, partly because they had finally rescued Jack, and partly because the older boy had finally lost consciousness, and looked to be sleeping comfortably. "I don' want da boys in 'ere for a few days," Race said, "not till Jack's doin' better 'nough ta talk ta dem." Davey and Crutchie both nodded quickly. "That's fine with us-I'll let the others know." The advisor and limbic both turned around as Romeo dashed into the room-and froze.

"Oh _crap."_ Crutchie murmured. "Jus' what we wanted to avoid."

Juliet could barely breathe. In fact, it was worse than _barely_.

She _couldn't_ breathe.

As soon as she had seen Jack, something had immediately started happening to her. Her heart was racing, she was shaking all over the place, she felt like she was hyperventilating and choking at the same time, and her chest had begun to burn. She was having a full-blown panic attack…and one worse than she'd had in a while. For a while, Juliet didn't move, simply staring off in the direction the others had gone, seemingly unaware of everything that was going on. Then, her "fight or flight" response kicked in, and she ran, needing to get out of that room _right now_. She heard someone calling her name, but she ignored them for the time being.

From behind her, her two older brothers sighed. "Do you have any idea of where she's going, Crutchie? When she's this freaked out, she could go anywhere…"

"Yeah, I dink I do…I dink she's goin' ta da roof."

"To the roof-when she's like this? If she's not careful, she'll-"

"I know-I's gonna go up dere an talk ta her. Ya keep da rest a da boys from noticin' she's gone-dere focus needs ta be on Jack."

"…and yours doesn't?"

"…As much as I wanna be in dere right now, I'd jus' git in da way. I know dey'd be fine with me in dere, but…Race is already in dere, an' he have a harder time with Juliet. I's one a da best 'sides Romeo in helpin' her out."

"All right…I'll send someone to come get you guys before Jack wakes up."

"Sounds good. Have fun talkin' ta all da other boys!"

"Ugh…don't remind me." Crutchie patted the taller boy on the shoulder, before slowly walking off the way Juliet had run. It took him a while to get up the stairs by himself-as he usually had Jack's help when his leg got super bad-but he finally made it up to the roof. He stopped for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the light (or lack thereof) before he looked around, trying to find his younger sister. Suddenly, he stopped, turning towards the same boxes Race had hidden behind the day before. A not-so-quiet sniffling and crying noise was coming from there, and Crutchie could now see that Juliet was sitting in relatively the same place that the older boy had been.

Apparently, the two had more in common than just their tempers.

Crutchie slowly approached the younger girl, carefully dodging the larger boxes before lowering himself to lean against a smaller one. If Juliet knew that he was there, she gave no indication, continuing to cry quietly into her hands. The older boy sighed, softly reaching his left arm around her shoulder and brushing his fingers over it. Juliet peeked up to see who was sitting next to her, before covering her eyes again. She seemed to know that Crutchie was there, but she couldn't really stop herself from crying-or didn't really want to. The older boy shifted a bit to sit in front of his younger sister. Then, he moved her hands down from her face with one hand. She continued to look at the floor, and Crutchie sighed again. "Juliet…" he murmured, lifting her chin with his other hand. The younger girl looked cautiously at him, tears streaming down her face. "Hey, I's right 'ere…come 'ere." he murmured. Juliet needed no further invitation, immediately surging forwards into her brother's embrace. She held him as hard as she could (which he didn't seem to mind) for a long time, crying softly into her brother's shoulder. He simply held her, one hand rubbing her back while the other warmly rested on the back of her neck. "Shh…it's okay, Juliet. Ya's alright-an' Jack is, too." he murmured. "Jack's gonna be alright."

Finally, Juliet was able to speak. "Wat if he's not, dough? Wat if…wat if he dosen' git better?" Crutchie gently scoffed, tenderly placing a kiss on her forehead. "Ya don' think dat Jack's gonna give up dat easily, do ya? Jack's jus' as stubborn as ya is-he's not gonna let da Terrible Five git in his way. He's gonna be back on his feet an' barkin' orders before too much longer." His words earned a chuckle out of the younger girl, who was slowly ceasing crying, preferring to simply sag against him. "Ya know how ya got better pretty soon aftar ya got hurt?" A nod. "Both times?" Another nod. "Den ya know dat Jack's gonna be jus' as fine as ya is. He ain't gonna let dis keep him down for too long-he'll be back ta normal 'fore long." Juliet smiled sheepishly, briefly meeting his eyes. "I know, it's jus'…I dunno…I saw him an' I…I, uh…"

"Ya panicked-an' with wat ya's gone through, dat's not really dat surprising. But, ya know wat? All a us is here for ya, an' we ain't gonna let anathing happen ta Jack, or ta ya. Ya brothers have ya back." As his younger sister snuggled closer to him, Crutchie gently ran his hand through her hair, soothing her a bit more. "Don'tcha worry none 'bout Jack. He's gonna be alright soon-ya's gonna see. Now c'mere." The older boy slowly helped Juliet to her feet, before guiding her over to the spot where he and Jack usually slept. They then resettled themselves on the mattresses, with Juliet shyly curling up in Crutchie's lap. Her older brother kept running his hand through her hair, slowly causing her to become drowsy, and then fall asleep, gently humming into his lap as she did so. They rested there peacefully for a few minutes before a clanging sound alerted Crutchie to the fact that someone was climbing up the ladder. A few seconds later, Romeo poked his head through the hole, pulling his whole body up a few seconds later. "Heya, Crutch-Davey told me ta come an' git'cha."

"Is Jack alright?"

"Yeah, he's doin' a lot better den wen he got here. Da doctor's still not comin' for a while, but Specs an' I's helped him's best we can. He's doin' alright now, an' Specs says he should be wakin' up soon." A gentle smirk appeared on the younger boy's face as he noticed Juliet lying in Crutchie's lap. "Good job getting' her ta sleep…she's gonna need it. Davey an' Race don' want her ta see him 'til he's on da mend."

"Thanks-now can ya git her off a bit? My bad leg's fallin' asleep again, and she's right on top of it…" Romeo let out a quiet chuckle, but softly moved Juliet off of Crutchie, allowing the older boy to drag himself to her feet. "We should probably git her downstairs…I don' think da others would want her on da roof…or ya, Crutch. I know ya's gonna probably stay with Jack all night, so-"

"Yeah, yeah…jus' give me a minute. How're ya gonna git Juliet down when dere's only one a ya?"

"Don' worry-we's got it covered." Romeo gently picked Juliet up from the ground, and then headed over towards the ladder, Crutchie hobbling behind. Once he arrived, the younger newsie called down into the hole. "Hey-is ya idiots ready?" A few good-natured grumbles came from down below, but Finch and Elmer quickly walked into view. Romeo lowered himself as far as he could into the hole, before lowering Juliet downwards. The two older boys caught her as soon as she came within arm's reach, making sure she didn't fall or hit her head. As they did, Crutchie slowly made his way down the ladder, his younger brother following behind to help him in case _he_ fell. The group then made their way to the girls' dormitory, placing Juliet in her bed once they arrived. They then continued on towards the Soaking Room, Finch and Elmer peeling off as they did so.

"Davey, Race, Specs, ya, an' I is da only ones allowed in da room…Race's ordars." Romeo explained at Crutchie's confused expression. "Didn' want all da boys crowdin' in an makin' it worse den it hasta be. Dey's gonna see Jack later, jus' not tonight. Once da three a ya is settled, I's gonna go up an' stay with Juliet for a while." Crutchie nodded, taking a deep breath as they opened the door. Race, Davey, and Specs briefly looked up, and then looked back down at Jack. "'Ey, Crutch." Race murmured quietly. The younger boy's breath caught in his throat.

Jack was hurt.

 _Bad_.

Crutchie could very clearly remember how Juliet looked when they had rescued her from both the Comstocks and the League of Gentlemen…and he could tell that this was worse. There were scratches, scrapes, and bruises all over the older boy's body, not even counting the cuts that Specs and Romeo had had to stich up, and the worst injuries which were covered up by bandages. Specs quickly got up from the chair he was sitting in, allowing his brother to sit down in it, his hands shaking a bit. Race dropped a hand on Crutchie's shoulder, squeezing gently. "He's gonna be alright, Crutchie. He's doin' better, an' he ain't as sick as he was before. Specs an' Romeo did good…he's gonna be all right." Crutchie nodded, settling a bit more comfortably into the chair. "I ain't leavin' him." he murmured quietly. The other boys nodded, already expecting this.

"Dat's fine with us." Race muttered. "Specs is gonna stay here with ya an' Jack for a while, an' jus' make sure dat Jack's alright. If ya need anythin', ya can wake him up, alright?" A nod. "All right-Romeo's gonna go keep an' eye on Juliet an make sure dat she's alright, an' keep her from comin' down ta see Jack. Davey an' I is gonna go ta bed for a little while, but we's gonna be back in a while." Crutchie nodded absentmindedly, his whole focus shifting to Jack. Race grinned, squeezing his shoulder again. "We's gonna be back soon." he repeated, before following Davey out of the room. Crutchie sighed, his gaze not moving from Jack.

He was not going to leave his friend.

Not again.

Not now.

Juliet jolted awake, waking up in fear and panic. She had just gotten over a nightmare in which Jack featured, as well as the Clancy brothers, League of Gentlemen, and Terrible Five. She didn't remember much of it, but she remembered enough to be terrified of it. She tried to get out of bed, but a slender and gentle hand held her down. "Easy, little sister-you's alright. Nothin's gonna git ya. Ya's safe." It took a little while, but Juliet finally calmed down to a point where she could actually distinguish who was sitting next to her. "Romeo?" she murmured quietly. Romeo nodded, gently running his thumb across her face. "Yeah, it's me, little one."

"I ain't dat little…" Juliet complained, smirking as she did so.

"You's smaller den me, so you's little ta me." Romeo chuckled as his younger sister rolled her eyes. "How's ya feelin'?"

"Uh…alright, I guess…I's jus' tired an'…I dunno…somethin'…from dat panic attack I had cause a Jack…" She suddenly stopped, remembering what had happened to Jack. She then tried to get out of the bed to go see Jack-but she soon felt a hand pushing her back down onto the bed. "Not right now, Juliet. Doc Menken said people with panic attacks gotta rest for a while, cause ya's brain jus' got all twisted up. Ya's gotta be in bed for da next day or so, till ya's not feeling so down." Juliet briefly tried to fight him, but his hand simply became firm, and his eyes hardened slightly, reminding his sister that he was one of the medics, and therefore in charge at the moment. Once she relaxed into the bed, Romeo's face softened. "Jack's alright, but we ain't lettin' anyone in dere jus' yet. Da boys ain't getting in dere for a couple days, an' neither is ya-not till he's doin' better."

"He's okay, dough?" Juliet asked, fear and shock shining brightly in her eyes. Romeo knew that she was remembering her past attacks, and knew that Jack was hurt in the same way. He also knew that that was how she had last seen Jack, and the image was stuck in her mind. The older boy grinned down at her, nodding as his hand moved to cup her cheek, softly smoothing his fingers over her temple as he did so. "Yeah, he's alright-don'tcha worry none 'bout Jack. He's hurtin', yeah, but dat's wat happens wen ya git hurt. He jus' needs ta rest, an' he'll be all right. Trust us-Jack's gonna be alright." Juliet slowly smiled a second later and nodded slightly. Romeo grinned at her. "Alright-now I wantcha ta git some more rest. I ain't gonna let'cha come see Jack iffn' ya don' sleep some more." Juliet quietly sighed, before closing her eyes. Romeo left his left hand resting against her face, while his right lightly brushed the hair from her forehead. "Go ta sleep, Juliet. You's brothers all love ya, an' we ain't gonna let anyone git ta ya."

"Love ya too." his younger sister murmured, clearly not fully asleep. Her eyes briefly flickered open before a slender and lithe hand rested over them, softly pressing down in order to keep them closed. "Sleep, little one." a low voice murmured. Before she fell asleep, she felt Romeo gently pressing a light kiss to her forehead. "Sleep. I's always watching over you."

"Always."

 _ **A/N 2: Well…I just cannot stay away from Romeo and Juliet cuddle fluff moments, now can I? ;) I honestly do love this entire chapter, though, and I'm glad that I finally got it out! That one line of Romeo's though…"He's hurt, yeah, but that's what happens when you get hurt…"…ohmigosh why did I write that line? Haha…from what I remember, I was just trying to get that part done as quick as I could…I was watching TV or something at that point, I think, so…I don't know. ;) I'm not sure what else I want to say in this author's note, so I'll let you guys go for now!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


	13. A Resolution of Sorts

**A/N: Hello, all! I'm sorry I took so long with this, you guys…I got kinda caught up in stuff. I was finishing a musical, and then trying to find a job (which I still haven't found yet), and then my dad got in a car accident, so…yeah, it's been an interesting two months.** **Anyways, I've been working on this for a bit, so…I hope it's good! I'll have (of course) my "Thank You" chapter published in a little while (once I publish this one, of course), and then I'll be done! Wow…this story has been a joy to write-it's really surprising that it's almost done! Hopefully y'all are still enjoying it!** **I am honestly sorry that this took so long…I've had a crap-ton of stuff to do, and it's been hard to find time to write. I've also been struggling with motivation for this chapter, especially since pretty much all of this story was complete and utter word vomit. That being said, I hope that this is a fitting end to this story!**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Biankies: Yeah, I love writing Romeo big brother stuff…it's always super cute when I get to write him, since I know their dynamic really well now. ;) Yeah, I'm glad too…I didn't realize until when I re-read the chapters that I had created this whole plan for them to get him out…and that I forgot that I had written that and just made it up as I went along…haha… ;) Yeah, my workload has been kinda crazy lately…sorry I haven't written in a while-my life's just gone a bit nuts lately, and it's taken a while to get back on track. Yeah, that sucks…maybe you should look for parts of the show on YouTube or something! (cause I've found clips of it on there…) I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **FansieFace: Hey! I miss you a ton…I hope you're doing well, and that you enjoy this chapter!** **(I might have a new TLC chapter soon…hopefully… ;) )**

 **S. Castro: Hey! I miss you…I hope you're doing well, and review soon!**

 **TheUndrownedChild: Thank you so much! I'm glad you've been enjoying them-that's the whole reason I write, after all!** **;) Plus I'm always glad to hear that someone likes my stories.** **Thanks! I'm hoping the whole courthouse part isn't getting too old (since I use it in pretty much every multi-chapter), but I'm glad you like them! And I love them too-that's one of my favorite bits to write, and there's some in this chapter too!** **ALL THE ROMEO AND JULIET FLUFF! Haha… ;) Yeah, I don't think that'll happen…but that's so cool that you live in New Zealand! That's one place I've always wanted to go (b/c it's kind of where all of "Lord of the Rings" was filmed and all…and it's where Power Rangers is filmed (yes, I'm a nerd) ), and I hope I can visit at some point!** **Don't worry-I will! Maybe not in this fandom right away, but I'll try to publish a new one shot as soon as I can!**

 **Musicalphan: Hey! Oof, yeah, finals are evil…I hope they went okay for you! My finals were…okay…I did better last semester, but my classes were a lot harder. That's super cool! My older brother's actually going to college in Nashville-Belmont University, if you've ever heard about it? I've only been in Tennessee once, but I had a lot of fun!** **That's awesome!** **I usually just get super impulsive and read something immediately… ;) but that's awesome!** **Awh, thank you!** **I hope you enjoyed writing this chapter-I had a lot of fun writing it! (Wait…are you and Alexiz (the "guest") the same person? Just curious…cause you signed your first review as them, and then they left a separate review…just curious!** **) Thanks again-I really appreciate everything you've said!**

 **Shout out to a guest reviewer, "Alexiz", who left me a review that basically kicked my butt into action to write this chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN NEWSIES AND NEVER WILL I JUST LOVE WRITING WAY TOO MANY STORIES ABOUT THEM!**

 **I hope you enjoy "** _ **When Jack Cried**_ **" Chapter 13!**

" _Sleep. I's always watchin' over ya. Always."_

Crutchie had been sitting by Jack's side for a while now…almost five hours. The others had come in and tried to tell him to get some rest, but the younger boy always refused, never moving from his seat. He was going to be there for Jack when he woke up, just like Jack was for him. Race and Davey seemed to understand that, however, and simply sat by him, letting him stay with Jack while also not being left alone. Suddenly, Crutchie sucked in a breath. "Jack?"

"Wat is it, Crutch?" Race queried, standing up and walking over. Crutchie didn't respond, simply staring at his best friend for a second. Then, he gasped again. "Look-Jack's wakin' up!" Davey joined his brothers quickly after that, everyone looking down at the older boy. It took a few minutes, but Jack finally opened his eyes, immediately wincing in pain. "Owh…did Race punch me or something?" The others-including both Specs and Romeo-chuckled as Race began to mock-protest. "Oh, come on, Jack-I ain't dat bad! An' anyways, I wouldn' punch ya right now!" Jack grinned up at him softly, before wincing again. Specs rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "How ya feelin', Jack?"

"Well, I ain't feeling da best in da world…but at least I'm back home." Jack murmured. "I's in a lotta pain, dough." That was one of the nice things about Jack being injured-he was one of the only newsie who would actually say accurately how they felt when they were in pain. Specs grinned. "Dat's alright-we's got ways a fixin' dat." He helped pull Jack up until he was in a sitting position, while Romeo moved a few more pillows behind him. As he reclined back, the older boy looked over at the others. "How're da othars doin'?"

"All of them are all right. Romeo, Juliet, and Katherine got proof to the judge that the Terrible Five did run out of Manhattan, and got them arrested. Spot and the rest of the Brooklyn newsies dragged him off to jail, and Smalls is still here, hanging out with Juliet and keeping her from coming down here." Davey explained. Jack nodded, thinking through everything that the advisor had said. Suddenly, he sighed. "She had a panic attack again?" The others nodded, and Jack sighed again. Of course his sister would have a panic attack. _Of course_. "She's doin' all right, Jack. I went up an' talked her down from it a few hours ago. She's either still asleep or talkin' ta Smalls, since she's not allowed ta come down here for a while." Crutchie reassured. "It's ya we's worried 'bout right now." Jack grinned, wincing in pain as Specs wrapped a bandage around his arm. "Sorry…it's gotta be tight, Jack." His younger brother murmured. He then nodded at Romeo, who brought a glass of water over. Jack looked up to see it and groaned. "Ya's kiddin' me." he groaned, which caused the others to laugh. Romeo shook his head, smiling brightly. "Naw, Jack-we ain't kiddin'. Ya's made us drink it a buncha times before, an' ya's gotta drink it now. Ya know ya need it." Jack rolled his eyes before eventually nodding. "Don' worry, Jack-ya ain't da only one we's gonna use it on." Specs responded, smirking down at the older boy, before grinning over at Crutchie. His brother began to protest, but both of the medics stared him down. "Ya's been sittin' here for seven hours, Crutch. Of course we's gonna make ya go ta sleep."

"An' don' think I wouldn' sit on ya ta keep ya from gettin' up." Race continued. The limbic sighed, before getting up and moving over to a bed next to Jack's. He then glared at the others, before finally taking the water that Romeo offered him. Within two minutes, the younger boy was asleep. Race and Davey then turned towards Jack, who was already taking the cup from Specs. "Don' worry, Jack-ya's gonna be alright real soon. Jus' go ta sleep-we's got your back." Within a few moments, the older boy went straight to sleep, and the others sighed in relief. Specs then turned towards his younger brother. "Romes, go an' git some sleep. Ya's bin sittin' here for a while too." Romeo scowled at his older brother, faintly growling at him at the use of his nickname-the one he knew that his brothers knew that he hated. He then exited the room, ignoring the snorts of laughter behind him as he did so.

 _Dang it-why cain't I jus' punch dem in da face? Yeah, I know, but…I really wanna punch dem in da face._

The next morning, Juliet woke up to see Smalls sitting next to her bed. The older girl was-ironically-reading a newspaper. She could tell by the look in her friend's eyes, however, that she was just zoning out. "Ya know, da headlines are more interesting when we make them up." Smalls jumped, the newspaper flying out of her hands. "Geez, Jules-warn a girl wen you's gonna do dat!" Juliet grinned at her friend, chuckling at her reaction while raising herself into a sitting position. "If I was gonna do dat, why would I wanna warn ya?" Smalls scowled briefly at the younger girl, but let out a quiet chuckle after a while. She then cleared her throat. "How're ya feelin'? Romeo wanted me ta check in on ya an' see how ya was feelin'." Juliet looked down for a moment, before letting out a quiet breath. "I's feelin' a lot better…jus' a bit tired. Is I able ta go down an' see da boys? I know dey ain't gonna let me in ta see Jack, but-"

"Yeah, Romeo said you's able ta go downstairs. Da boys know not ta bug ya, but ya's free ta go down dere." Smalls replied, helping her to her feet. The two girls slowly made their way down the stairs, quietly joking amongst themselves. They finally made it into the Living Room, where their brothers were hanging out. They looked up as the two girls walked in, waving at them. "'Ey, Juliet…how ya feelin'?" Buttons questioned. Juliet quietly smiled at her brothers, before shrugging her shoulders. "Better den yesterday, but still tired…but I wanted ta hang out with y'all, so…" She suddenly let out a surprised grunt as her brother ran up and threw his arms around her. "I'm glad you're okay!" he whispered, obviously only wanting his older sister to hear. Juliet chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Thanks, James-I'm glad too." she murmured in his ear.

The boys then caught Smalls's look, and began to slowly go back to what they were doing before, which was pretty much a giant poker game. Smalls immediately moved over to join, while Juliet moved to lean against Crutchie, who was sitting in a chair nearby. Her older brother smiled, gently reaching his arm over her shoulders, pulling her head to rest on his right shoulder. He seemed to realize that she didn't really want to talk, because he simply brushed a kiss against her forehead before turning to watch their brothers gradually growing louder as the poker game grew more intense. A few minutes later, Romeo came over to join them, having lost fairly quickly. He didn't say anything either, simply leaning against her legs. Since Juliet was so tactile, her brothers' touches helped reassure and relax her, and almost caused her to fall asleep again. Romeo grinned as he saw her eyes flickering closed. "Somebody's tired…" he teased, gently nudging her. Juliet groaned, lightly kicking his back. "Oh, shut up." she murmured. Both of her brothers chuckled. "Jack's all right, right?" she queried a few moments later. Crutchie nodded, gently smoothing the hair from her forehead. "Yeah, he's alright…he's a bit sore still, but he's gonna be fine."

"I cain't come in ta see him yet, right?" she asked. Romeo shook his head, his hand finding hers and his thumb rubbing circles across the back of her hand. "Not yet, no. Not till Jack's doin' better. It'll be soon, dough…maybe next week or so. He asked 'bout ya, dough."

"He asked 'bout me?" Juliet questioned, surprise clearly visible across her face. Romeo nodded. "Yeah-he wanted ta make sure dat ya was alright when he heard dat ya had another panic attack." Juliet grinned tiredly, surprised that Jack would be concerned with her welfare when he had been beaten up for a few days, but that was just like Jack. Her eyes closed again, and so she missed the conspiring look between Crutchie and Romeo. The younger boy began to move from resting against her legs to sitting against her right side. Crutchie began to rub his hand over her shoulder, while Romeo softly rubbed her back. Juliet momentarily had enough coherence to give both of her brothers a weak glare. They ignored it, however, simply continuing to soothe her until her breathing evened out and she slumped even more against her older brothers. The two grinned at each other, content to sit and watch their other brothers while watching over their younger sister.

Their life wasn't perfect, but they had Jack back-and that was all that mattered.

The next few days, things began to slowly go back to normal. Katherine was right-Judge Bolger didn't even need a trial to convict the Terrible Five, throwing them in jail for murder with intent. They still protested that they were innocent, but with the evidence that the newsies gave him, it was crystal clear that they were behind Abram's death. They didn't get life in jail, but they did get a very long sentence. Spot, Smalls, and the Brooklyn newsies eventually went back to their boroughs, bringing the thanks of the entire Manhattan borough with them. They also thanked Officers Calhoun and Gattelli, who were the officers arresting the Terrible Five.

Dr. Menken had come by a few days later, and had praised Specs and Romeo on the work they had done on helping Jack. The older boy was slowly recovering, but he was getting a _lot_ better. He had even been able to get up and move around for a while, checking in with all of his siblings as he did so. Seeing their leader up and mobile had really revived the newsies, and they were able to sell a lot more newspapers than normal. They made sure to save some money for Jack for when he was able to sell again. He wasn't there yet, but he was slowly getting close. Katherine stayed with him while the others were selling, simply to make sure he didn't try to do something he wasn't ready for yet.

 _Again._

About three months after Jack was rescued, the older boy was pretty much back to normal. Pulitzer had given them a day off, and the "Core Four" was sitting up on the roof, enjoying the bright sunshine. As they relaxed, Jack let off a sigh of relief, subtly leaning against Davey's side.

Everyone was back to normal-for the most part-and they were finally able to relax.

And that was just how Jack liked it.

 _ **A/N: Well, I'm really happy with how this chapter ended!**_ __ _ **I can't believe this story is over…but it's been a great ride!**_ __ _ **I hope you all enjoyed the ride, and I hope you stick around for a while! I don't plan to write another multi-chapter for a while (because I've got so many that I need to finish), but I am planning some "survival stories" starring Juliet, where she teaches her brothers how she survived under a bridge for six years, since I figured she'd have to learn how to survive on the streets in the 1800's when pretty much everything was as unclean as heck. Keep an eye out for that, but I don't know exactly when it's going to get published, since I need to finish a LOT of other multi-chapters. Like, all of them. If you're new to my stories (i.e. this is the first story of mine that you've read), please take a look at some of my other stories-basically everything after and including "Trouble on the Ponderosa". If you've been here for a while, thank you so much for your support! I should be publishing new chapters to some of my current multi-chapters soon, so keep an eye out for those!**_

 _ **Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this story, and for all the support and love y'all have given me over the course of it all! I hope you all enjoyed it!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed the chapter (and story), and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


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